


Three Of Us Are Here, One Of Us Is In Control...

by Zozo_nope



Series: Now YOU, The Reader, Are A Sans [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: D.I.D(also known as sperate personality disorder, Easily flustered reader, Gen, Haphephobia, Ink wants Error to be like a brother, Nightmares, PTSD, Panic Attacks, PaperJam accident child, Poly Relationship, Reader Is A Skeleton, Reader is Error Sans, Reader! Skeleton, Self Harm, Soulmates, Vague memories of another life, brotherly Ink, hints of physical and mental abuse towards Reader, insightful Reader, nice but sassy Reader, non-gendered Reader turned male, reader is error, reader is sans, strong reader, to be added - Freeform, voices
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26538673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zozo_nope/pseuds/Zozo_nope
Summary: You don't remember anything but you know who and where you are, you also realize you weren't this way before. The voices in your head are loud but two are louder than the others and aren't noticed by them. This is strange, but you'll do this your way...
Relationships: Error/Blue, Error/Nightmare, Error/Reaper(Death), Little bit of Error/Reader x everyone 'cause you are bae, Undecided
Series: Now YOU, The Reader, Are A Sans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971592
Comments: 44
Kudos: 239





	1. You, You, and Error. You're Not One Person...

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first official fic, please give me feedback on it so I may improve.

You don't exactly remember existing before this, you were just…...there all of a sudden. It’s strange but you can’t help but accept it, the voices told you who you were. Your name is **Error** , _you_ somehow knew who **Error** was before the voices even continue.

You weren't **Error**.

At least not before, but you were now, you could accept that. _You_ had knowledge of the multiverse and _you_ were very much aware of the countless versions of yourself that were a lot less powerful than you.

You don’t think _you_ had a gender before but you were now very much aware of the fact that you were male, even if there was absence between your legs. Were _you_ once a female…or were _you_ male? Who were _you_? What were _you_ like? You supposed this would be fun in it’s own right. To learn who _you_ were, what _you_ liked, what _you_ disliked ~~all over again~~.

What? Again? Did you already know who you were unconsciously?

Being **Error** is confusing.

The voices vary in temperament and personality, but they all seem to want you to do the same thing, they call it your job. They want you to destroy AUs and people/monsters. _you_ don’t want to hurt anyone, _you_ couldn’t.

The voices don’t seem to like _your_ resistance but you didn’t-couldn’t bring yourself to-care. Then they told you about when the AUs and Timelines started collapsing in on themselves another AU was made, one that was safe from the corruptions of the code and wouldn’t collapse in on itself due to being the CORE AU. The kinder voices even gave you ideas on how to contact them.

“Why don’t you just kill yourself before you mess everything up?!” one of the meaner voices shout, you ignore them and continue brainstor-, mindstorming? You don’t technically have a brain, but a mind is not composed of the brain so you have that? You feel a bit dizzy from confusion and realize you have yet to speak, you open your mouth(jaw?) and try to say something.

*S-sHut-uT U-u-Up

The voices are quiet, you inwardly laugh at that and wonder if they’re scared of your smooth yet glitchy voice.

That would be quite comical, the voices start back up albeit a bit hesitant, to be honest your voice shocked _you_ as well. ~~It was not as deep as most comic creators thought-~~ wait what? Again with these weird thoughts, where do they even come from? 

Well, back to your inner monologue, your voice was at the point where you had no doubt about being male but was not too deep and would probably be really soothing if you didn’t glitch so dang much. you liked your voice, the glitching didn’t matter, _you_ thought it was a sort of slightly teenager sweet big brother voice.

~~_You_ remember _your_ big brother. Him ruffling _your_ hair just to annoy _you_ but taking _you_ out for ice-cream whenever he was not working, teaching _you_ , or raising _you_ in general. How he made sure _you_ were hidden each time _**he**_ came home.- ~~That’s weird, you don’t remember having a big brother. But then what was that?

~~You could almost picture the tall human male looking down at _you_ as he held a strawberry ice-cream cone.~~ It made _you_ sad for some reason, why were _you_ sad?

Your face feels wet and you see something deep blue drop to the floor. You bring a hand to your face only to stop as you notice the bone and it’s color; red, yellow, and black, separated at each knuckle.

How peculiar, you look down at your body, it seems to be clothed in a red turtleneck, a black zip up jacket lined with some yellow in a couple places, a long blue scarf that wrapped around your neck once with one end hanging down your front and the other behind your back, it covered a fluff-lined blue hood attached to your jacket, black jogging shorts that went down to your knees and had a blue stripe on the outer sides, and a pair of black and blue sneakers with yellow socks.

Weird sense of fashion he and you have, better sense of fashion, you do not, so for now it’ll stay that way.

It was also incredibly comfy **-damn right it’s comfy-** so you didn’t mind that you look like you picked whatever out of the closet and threw it on. 

Now that you really think about it, you still notice _your_ barrier between **Error** and _yourself_. Perhaps _you_ made it, or was it him? Until _you_ considered yourself **Error** , truly, you would have to come up with a different name. You quickly wipe your face with the back of your hands.(?)

What to call yourself, hmm. You asked the voices but most chose to ignore your question in favor of insulting you or nagging you about your so called job, _you_ knew the reason why _you_ had to do it, but _you_ were nothing if not selfish, all humans were.

But _you’re_ not human, are _you_? you really can’t recall. Even if _you_ were, _you_ weren’t anymore. You were a monster through and through.

Not that _you_ minded, mind you, _you_ were enjoying this new experience. _you_ hadn’t done anything different in a long time, right? At least that’s what it felt like to _you_.

Everything around you felt so refreshing, even the never ending white, ~~_you_ were so used to being in pitch black~~,- that sounded sad, who would do that to such an innocent soul as _you_? You were disgusted, it hurt _you_. Why are humans so cruel? Are they all like that? Did you just assume it was a human? Well, yes, you did, but only because that’s what _you_ led you to believe. 

Anyway you almost lost your train of thought and went off track, names, something to insinuate that _you_ are not **Error** but that you aren’t entirely **Error** either **-I’m still here y’know-**. Hmm, Template? You hear a buzzing sound and assume that means no.

Pixel, perhaps? Sprite? Code? Void? Strings? Glitch? Design? Print? Virtual? Transparent? Fate? E.R? Hack? Thread? Intel? Virus? Studio? Slate? Concept? Three? Error!333? Crash? Trigger? Compute? Wi-fi? Data? System? Shock? End? Screen? Equation? Format? Micro? Puppeteer? Custom? Record? Connect? Net? Cord? Charge? File? Bug? Nano? Tech? Load? Web? Chart? Check? Icon? Digit? You spat out names quickly and the buzzer didn’t sound ever since you suggested Template.

~~_You_ wondered if _you_ broke it by accident. _You_ break everything _you_ come into contact with, _your_ family taught _you_ that. They all agreed with _you_ too, except _your_ brother. ~~

~~He was _your_ best friend and the one person that _you_ truly understood as well as vice versa. He was the only person _you_ had ever brought _yourself_ to truly love and whom gave love in turn. He was everything _you_ were not, perfect but beautifully flawed, while _you_ were, strange and disgusting in every possible way. He told _you_ different, he explained that no one is perfect and _you_ were beautiful to him, in _your_ own special way.~~ \- That person sounded sweet, your happy _you_ had them in _your_ life despite what _you_ had to go through. You hope you can meet him one day and see what all the fuss is about.

Again with the train of thought, so many choices, but which to pick. Ah, you’re pretty sure you’re having an existential crisis or at least panicking about a non-existent one. “Just pick a name already!” the voice that has made itself known the most yells in what sounds like frustration, probably is. 

*G-Gli-tch--Glitch, it-it is then…

You hear some of the voices laugh, “You’re almost as bad as Asgore with names” one of the voices seems to chide but their fond tone told you they were enjoying your suffering. You don’t pout…. You don’t!!

*W-who-wHo’S A-A-ASgoRe?

The voices pause, then one of the kinder ones speak up, “He’s the king of monsters, in almost every AU and/or Timeline”, you nod. That explained a lot to you on who he was, like it jogged some of your memories. You managed to open a portal to the CORE AU thanks to the oh-so-helpful voices in your head that you somehow know were real people once. ~~Maybe they died too…~~ \- wait _you_ died, that makes a lot of sense, but it’s also really sad. You wonder how but leave it unsaid, your head hurt.

Anyway, you reached into the AU with your stings, causing everyone to start panicking, and pulled back some paper and a pencil. You wrote out a small letter of the following words:

{Dear Whomever this may concern/CORE Frisk,

I have an AU that is in need of evacuation, effective immediately. Error is planning on eradicating the AU known as X-tale Copy #4, the place will need to be vacant in order for no one to come to any harm. The AU is halfway through corruption and is a danger to the AU’s around it. Please understand my sympathy.

Anonymous~}

You sent it back without your strings through a portal you were using to watch CORE Frisk, they picked up the paper and looked around. They couldn’t see you even though you could see them, which, you suppose was a good thing- **of course it is, I made it that way** -. They opened the letter and a look of shock and DETERMINATION crossed over their face before they head resolutely in one direction. “you realize they're gonna tell Ink, right?” you raise your brow(bone).

*Wh-WHo’s InK-K?

*Wait, n-evVeR mi-miNd, I re-re-re-mEmbEr

You speak up when a memory comes rolling through you again before the voices speak, _you_ and **Error** knew who he was, though in different ways.

Ink is cute, _you_ reminded you, don’t hurt him, he doesn't understand **-hurt him, he doesn’t need our mercy, he lied to us, he’s a liar** -. _You_ were very wise you decided but that didn’t make you want to hit _you_ any less. In fact it increased the feeling, perhaps **Error** would like a say. Too bad, _you_ didn’t care and you didn’t either- **it’s rude to ignore your host** -.

It was decided, you couldn’t hurt such a precious person even if they didn’t return your feelings and even laughed. Ink couldn’t help he was soulless and that he couldn’t love you back **-I suppose you are correct** -. If he had pretended to like you back, that would’ve been way worse **-I guess, that doesn’t ease my pain by much though** -.

~~_You_ knew how that felt, it hurt, it felt like _your_ heart was ripped out and shredded into a million pieces right before your eyes. _You_ could still remember the smile on his face as he told _you_ that it was all a huge joke to him, that _you_ didn’t mean anything to him.~~

~~Then _you_ hurt him, sent him straight to the ER, _you_ took him down with one punch and didn’t get off of him until someone pulled _you_ off. Most stopped bullying _you_ after that, at least physically, verbally was another thing entirely, insults and jeers were more common than any conversations _you_ had.~~ Maybe _you_ had scared them, _you_ scared _you_ and _you_ didn’t even know that was possible- **that must’ve sucked kid, humans’ feelings are fragile** -.

Enough about the sad life of _yours_ , Ink, huh?- **yeah, get it through your thick skull** **idiot** \- _you_ can’t help but remind **Error** you have the same skull now. You opened a portal, you gave them long enough to evacuate the AU, you needed to get this done today, maybe grab a couple things to make the anti-void feel more homey.

You hopped on through, you seemed to be earlier than Ink if he was attending. You started grabbing things you wanted like a black and blue coffee table, a bedpost, sewing needles, some monster food from Muffet’s, and some clothes from this Sans’ closet (you washed them quickly) then you lugged it all through your portal and walked into Muffet’s, you ate some of the chocolate cake left in the fridge, it was super good.

Then the man of the hour decided to finally show up- **stupid squid, always late** -, Ink, but he didn’t have broomie?- **forgetful too** \- That’s strange, you reminded him that he forgot broomie and he instantly made a portal and jumped through, you laughed. He was really forgetful, wasn’t he? You grabbed a bottle of cider you took and chugged it down- **ew, don’t drink that, I hate super sweet things** -. A noise of ZINK echoed from behind you.

*So-O You-ou’Re B-b-bAcK 


	2. The Stars and A Memory?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a set update time but may do it once or twice a month. I appreciate any and all comments.

*Haha, of course I am

The walking rainbow creator had the giant paint brush attached to his back and held his chin high with his hands on his hips, imitating a superhero pose. You didn’t know why though, _you_ could never figure it out either- **he looks stupid** -, it was weird and made him seem like he had a huge ego.

*Y-y-You sho-oUld-auLd St-tOp thAt, iT-it maKes-s-S you-you sE-ee-em l-l-likE yOu thiNk-ink you’-re-RE beTter-tEr tHan-n every-rYone-Ne elSe

You told him as you gestured to his pose and he frowned. You told him about how that pose gave off the whole “I’m better than you all” aura and his frown deepened- **haha, get dunked on** -. You weren’t smiling, you were being completely serious, _you_ were hoping he took your words to heart otherwise he may actually offend someone- **he offends me everyday** -. Would he be able to die though, he’s soulless- you thought _you_ should really stop butting into your thoughts, it was starting to get confusing.

*Wh-what? Are-are we su-pposed-ed t-to fight-ight now-ow?

Ink gives you a strange look, he opens his mouth, then closes it, then does it a second time- **yes, you are** -.

*Do you know who you are? Where are you right now?

You laugh, then put your hand out in front of you and tilt it side to side in a somewhat gesture- **don’t do stupid things with my body** -. His eye sockets widen and the yellow star and green question mark shaped eyelights shrink in alarm as he lets out a “oh” noise- **he looks…rattled, heh** -. You open the code in front of him and begin to do your new job as he watches in silence, strange, shouldn’t he be trying to stop you? - **Squid talks too much anyway, be grateful for the silence** -. You brush off his strange behavior and finish your job. Just as you exit the code, the world begins to fall apart, it’s beautiful. You say goodbye to Ink and begin to open a portal, before you even notice Ink has grabbed your hand and dragged you through a different portal than the one you had originally opened.

*Wh-whaT thE-the-tHe He-eCK-HEck?!

You literally growl and bare your teeth before falling forward with a very MANLY (by that you mean girlish) shriek- **didn’t know my voice could go that high** -. You hear someone burst out laughing and someone else freaking out about the destroyer of Universes being there as Ink tries to calm them both down. That’s you right? God of destruction or something- **right the first time, idiot** -. You don’t think _you_ could ever hurt anyone intentionally, _you’re_ too soft. You totally don’t (do) pout at the embarrassment of being laughed at as yellow rushed to your cheeks- **don’t do that with my face** -. 

*WhO-oevEr’s lAugHing-inG, Sh-sh-shUt-ut uP-up

The sound of panicked words increase at your own as the laughing too increases and you resign yourself to just lay on the floor face down. _You_ too begin laughing in time with the other voice, you try to stifle the small giggles that force their way through your mouth at _your_ behest, the others laughter and panicked speech halt completely as _your_ giggles grow louder against your will and become noticeable- **what the flump?** -. You manage to bring your knees underneath you and curl into yourself as you can’t stop _your_ laughter, your nonexistent gut hurts with _your_ unhinged happiness. 

*MwEh-eh hEhEHe-HeHeh

It sounds a lot like the other monster’s laugh, the one that was laughing at you. Oh right, it was another one of you after all, and he sounded genuine when laughing. Probably one of the Swaps, _you_ guess, _you're_ probably right. You pinched your bone to try and stop, and it worked, _your_ giggles finally died down as you laid in the ground trying to catch your breath. Skeletons don’t have lungs, _you_ tries to tell you, causing you to laugh this time instead, though short lived as Ink makes the sound of clearing his throat- **it’s magic~~** -.

*SOr-oRry, I-I dOn-don’T re-rE-meMbeR AnY-ny of-oF you-you-YoU

You sit up and look at all three figures consisting of Ink, a golden clothed skeleton the voices deemed, Dream, and a small one in blue the voices tell you is your best friend, Blueberry. They’re all looking at you in a strange mix of curiosity, relief, and worry, it’s strange. You look back at them, but switch between them unsure of who to actually look at. When you ask if they’re okay they look at you and look extremely taken aback which judging by what the voices told you should be a normal reaction- **ha, they’re stupid** -. 

They all look at you then at each other before huddling in a corner and whispering to each other, you have a feeling they’re going to ask questions and opt to tell them at least half truths- **we don’t have to tell them the truth** -. Your skull hurts, headache(skullache?).

*Go-goT aNy-nY AspirIn-iaN? I-I-I’vE gOt a-a-a-a maSsiVe-sIve achE-Che in-iN my-Y sKulL

You rub your skull with a wince, Blue passes you a bottle that comes from seemingly nowhere and you thank him- **don’t say those disgusting words with my mouth** -. You try to read the instructions when you realize, you can’t, the words are blurry, **Error** wears glasses, _you_ tells you. - **Glasses are in my left pocket** \- you reach into the left pocket of your jacket and notice the Star Sanses tense up before you pull out round red rimmed glasses, the three instantly relax a bit and look at you as you put them on and begin reading the instructions.- **Take two, dummy** \- you pull out two and put them on your glowing magical teal and dark blue tongue before swallowing, you pass the bottle back to Blue with another thanks.

*I cAN-an tell-ElL you-you-yOu haVe quEsTioNs-tiOnS, Go-o-O ahEaD-d-D

They look unsure of who should ask the questions before Blue steps forward, you make eye light contact with him and gesture for him to start.

*Do you know who you are?

*Ye-E-Es, I-I aM-m Error-or, deStRo-oY-oyEr of-F A-A-AU-s-s-s. At-at lEaSt tHAt’s WhaT-at tHe-the vOi-oi-oiCeS-s-s S-ay-Ay.

*Why did you destroy that AU?

*I-if I haD-hAdn’T-t, tHe-e-E mULtiveRse-Se woUlD hAVE dEleTed-d-D thAt ONe-onE anD-d-d oTh-eR-ers ar-roUnd iT-t, cOde-De CorRuPtiOn Is-isn’t sOmetH-ing-inG to be-e-E taKeN-n liGhtLy. I-iT c-CaN be-bE in-inFeCtous-s-S....

Ink is looking at Dream, Dream is nodding which has Ink tensing up further, probably in knowledge that this whole time Error hasn’t been hurting people/monsters and destroying AU’s for the heck of it but to keep others from suffering unnecessarily. Blue is also tenser though you don’t know why **-his code is corrupted, I told him how it was only recently fixed a little due to a reset but that it was unlikely to be turned back to it’s original state** -. _You_ thought that was sad and were suddenly filled with determination to fix Blue’s Universe to at least make it better. Dream seemed to detect _your_ sudden change in emotion if him tensing up even further- **didn’t know that was possible** \- was anything to go by, and it caused a chain reaction as your brow bones furrowed, Ink tensed further and pulled Blue away as they stood in a defensive stance. 

*Why did your emotions change so suddenly?!

You open your mouth but pause for a moment, unsure of what to say, you close your mouth and tap your phalanges to your skull in a thinking manner. 

*Voices, they told me a supposed friend of mine’s universe is basically full of corrupt code. They want me to see if I can fix it.

You didn’t lie to him, but you didn’t provide the full truth either. How are you supposed to explain that you have three separate personalities now? The voices definitely aren’t helping, still as loud as ever, some still wanting more destruction, _you_ see now why **Error** hurt people so much and was viewed so badly, they wouldn’t shut up. You groan, place your hands to your skull and press.

*Sh-sHut Up-P, flump-piNg st-sTaRs a-a-aboVe-ve

You can’t help but curse, the voices finally decide to be quieter. Blue dislikes your foal language and asks you to refrain from doing so, you can’t help but stare at him and he stares right back, only looking away with a smile when you let out a defeated sigh. Ink is staring at you with a weird look in his eyes- **I don’t like it, tell the Squid idiot to stop it** - _you_ think you should tell Ink to stop politely but unfortunately for him, you disagree and vote to go with **Error’s** idea- **Yes! Tell him off** -.

*Don’t-T lOok-K At-at me-E-e lIke-ikE tHat-at Squid-D 

His look turns stranger, to the point where it’s actually really creepy and you can’t help but look at Blue and Dream, pleading for them to save you with your eyes. They look amused, when you look back, he’s suddenly right in front of you, you literally squeak and fall backward in fright. Yellow is PAINTING your skull once more as you hear the other skeletons laughing, you turn even more yellow when he’s bending over you and is really close to your face- **push him off** - _you_ think **Error’s** flustered- **shut up, stupid glitch** -. You bring your hands up and push Ink’s face away hard enough for him to fall backward with a “ack”. The laughing increases and you hear wheezes of “is he okay?”.

*St-tOp thAt-T Squi-iD idi-i-iOt 

*How do you know that nickname?!

You raise a brow at him as he sits in front of you once more, albeit a bit further away, but he stares at you seemingly waiting for an answer. You really don’t know what to tell him, the laughter stopped at Ink’s question and they’re staring at you too. - **Stupid [funking] children. Wait, no, he’s here-** _you_ ask **Error** who he’s talking about. - **That nineties abomination** - _you’ve_ always personally liked Fresh despite other’s opinions (Lust too), after all they can’t help where or how they grow up- **if I could, I would personally obliterate you and them alongside one another** -. You look around frantically, confusing the present skeletons but whether it’s to see an awesome skeleton or punch said skele is yet to be decided.

*That isn’t a good idea, bruskies!

Fresh popped in from behind Ink, Dream, and Blue causing all 4 of you to scream (in your case yelp) in fright.- **[Funking] stars. That abomination is here** -he looked unfazed at the shouts of fright and wrapped an arm around Ink in a friendly manner as Blue said hello to his friend with excitement. You just watched, you were so confused on what you were feeling. You wanted to punch the parasiticly possessed skeleton but also wanted to hug him and gush, you assume the violence part came from **Error** and not _you_. 

*Y’all only need some helpful open conversation and intervention, lying to such a rad brah. ‘S so unfresh, my radical brosephs.

You can’t help but feel kind of dumb when he speaks like that, you barely understand all the slang he’s using and are utterly confused but get the base of what he’s saying. Never mind, _you_ kind of regret wanting to meet him, especially since you are now a potential host for him. The mere thought scares you as you shift on the ground uncomfortably, just wanting to go back to the anti-void for an undisclosed amount of time, you wonder if you can slip away without them noticing. 

But then again you’ve never had the best luck did you.

Just as you make the portal and are about to enter, Dream spots you leaving and calls you out to Ink, Fresh, and Blue. 

*S-s-sEE yo-o-Ou lATer, ma-ma-mAyBe-e-e

You say and make like there’s a spider behind you into the anti-void. The portal closes as you watch them scramble towards it, failing to reach it before it closes. You feel more comfortable when you feel the lack of presence in the anti-void, you were alone so you might as well make this place more comfortable, you moved the furniture you took around into their own places and put the food into storage. You felt more at home than you had at first and laid on your new soft black couch before falling into a deep slumber, nightmares crawling at your mind as you lost consciousness. 

|You’re alone, where are you? Who are you? Why are you here? It’s pitch black where you are, you’re scared when you remember what happened and the scene changed without you noticing. You messed up, so, so, bad. He was so angry and your brother wasn’t here to hide you. He came home in a bad mood and you accidentally made it worse when you dropped his beer, it shattered all over the floor. 

He forced you down on your knees and made you pick up the glass with your hands, you stepped on so many pieces and he got angrier when you trailed the blood through the living room and kitchen. You begged for forgiveness on your knees as tears ran down your face and blood ran down your legs. You received a strong punch to the face but continued with your task as black dotted your vision from the impact. 

He was mad that you didn’t pick it up quicker and spat at you while you lay on the floor curled in on yourself from another punch, this one was to the gut and you couldn’t muster the strength nor courage to stand back up. A couple kicks were sent to your arms and legs before he left to the kitchen to get another beer and shouted at you to go to your room, you didn’t. You stood up and grabbed a knife from the holder on the counter.

Were you really going to do this?

A scream could be heard throughout the neighborhood as your knife plunged into his rib cage, probably puncturing a lung as he fell to the ground. You mounted his squirming body and grabbed the handle of the knife, wiggling it a bit to remove it from his new wound.

And you stabbed him.

Over and over and over, again and again as tears streamed down your face in a sick kind of relief at the thought of his death. He screamed loudly, so you stabbed at where his vocal box would be. You didn’t feel anything as his blood covered your hands and eventually your face from when he tried to grab your cheek to push you off. He was now missing three fingers, the severed fingers rolled over to the entrance of the kitchen. His screams DIED down as his eyes, although still wide in pain and terror, glossed over and his body fell limp underneath you. 

A rustle of bags snapped you from your murderous daze and when you looked to the entrance of the kitchen, there was your brother. His eyes were wide in terror as he looked from the mangled corpse of your father to your bloody covered figure. You heard sirens in the distance but couldn’t bring yourself to move. You couldn’t take it anymore...

And then your brother’s terror could be heard in the heart wrenching terror filled scream that filled the air, then blank|

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to know how to improve, any of my mistakes, and hear your opinions on my writing...


	3. Coded Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You suppose a trip to Underswap may not have been the best idea considering the welcome you received from Underswap Papyrus. Many unwanted emotions were brought front and center, much to your displeasure and to the worry of a stalking friend. Later, after the bout of weakness, you and the Star Sanses, along with Papyrus, rid Underswap of an ERROR filled coding. But many unplanned things happen and you fall into a strangely familiar but pleasant dream....
> 
> Or perhaps a memory....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!!!!
> 
> Attempt at describing a panic attack based on my own experience, it may not come across the way I want it too and may differ from others' experience.
> 
> Please don't mind any spelling errors or grammar mistakes.

You jolt awake from the nightmare you can’t remember, you're on the floor and covered in sweat, tears welling up in your eyes that are slowly spilling over, you don’t stop them. You’re scared and don’t know what to do, you didn’t know why you were so scared but you were. 

You didn’t bother trying to remember the dream, for some things were better left alone, and you had the feeling of slimy sweat and bugs crawling among your bones just thinking of what you DID remember. ~~A large hairy and angry looking man, the wet musty rusty smell of blood, the glint of a steel knife, and the sounds of screams that would unnerve you for weeks to come.~~

You heave out heavy and quick breaths, the voices are quiet and you appreciate the silence as you try to calm yourself down even as the slight buzz lingers. By the time you do, you’re exhausted and feel numb but also afraid, the voices are back and whispers fill your skull. You’re afraid to go back to sleep and just stay up searching through the older copy universes for code corruption, there’s nothing too serious. 

**-What about Blue’s? Check that one and see if you can fix it-** **Error** reminds, you nod firmly and blue magic surges forward from your outstretched hand to form a portal to Underswap. You open the code and see quite the build up of corruption,  _ you _ start to worry about it and it’s potential effects. You try to manipulate the code and eventually fix most of it, there was still plenty of corruption though but you knew what the culprit was. 

The anomaly was changing the code. A dirty, messy hacker, that you had to take care of. - **WE** \- ah, yes we\-  _ you _ reminded with  **Error** , you internally agreed before making a portal to Underswap. You walked through and immediately realized your mistake when you spotted Swap Papyrus with Blue by his side.

*W-e-ell, I-I-I’m sc-sCreWEd

You said aloud when the portal closed and drew the lanky skeleton’s attention,- **yeah, no doubt he remembers that time I utterly destroyed the entire timeline and kidnapped Blueberry. It’s how we became friends-** _ you _ could sense  **Error’s** wince at the memory,  _ you _ can’t help but bring up the fact that you were talking about Blue and you become frightened and a little confused on having to take punishment for something you technically never did. 

The Papyrus barged towards you with a scowl on his face, Blue in tow, trying to calm his angry brother so they could both get a proper read on the situation, instead of the useless fight he knew was coming from his brother’s instigation. Your panic was rising at a fast pace.

*The nerve you must have to show up here!!

He was absolutely livid and it showed on his face as he walked up to you and grabbed your scarf, to which you reflectively knocked his hand away when you felt that familiar fear of touch, as it had only meant pain for a majority of  _ your’s  _ and  **Error’s** life. Blue tugged on him and tried to tell him something, but Papyrus was too busy screaming at you. 

You couldn’t hear the words though, trying to delay the inevitable incoming panic attack from unwanted memories accompanied by the painfully familiar situation. You breathed deeply in an effort to calm yourself down as you felt the air constricting your breath, you needed to be grounded(A/N: no pun intended), you didn’t even notice the fact that you were no longer standing and that Papyrus was no longer yelling at you.

~~ *Error, can you hear me? ~~

You didn’t hear anything, ~~feeling the lingering phantoms of pain from punishments~~ and when  _ you _ had first become one with  **Error** . PAIN, PAIN, PAIN. It felt like you were on fire and couldn’t breathe, then suddenly it felt like water and you still couldn’t breathe, everything was heavy. The air felt thick and negative all around you, it felt borderline painful as you gasped deeply but quickly for air. 

You couldn’t see, it was dark,  _ too  _ dark. It was so hard to breathe and that only made you panic more, vague memories of ~~a pitch black room~~ rushed through your head in a frenzy. You didn’t register the pain in your arms that had started bleeding, you were digging your sharpened phalanges into your ulna as Blue was trying to get you to stop, Papyrus was now joining in that effort after seeing a couple chipped pieces fly off and marrow spill down your arms in generous amounts.

~~ PAIN ~~

~~ PAIN ~~

~~ PAI- ~~

~~ *Error! Stop! ~~

~~ PAIN   
  
PAIN ~~   
  


Blue tapped his wrist four times in a pattern but your eyes failed to register the movement, it felt too warm but also too cold at once and was pure torture, shivers ran through your body as you. Every part of you felt pain, you didn’t scream, only quiet fearful pained whimpers escaped your jaws accompanied by trembling and shaking.  ~~_ you _ ~~ ~~didn’t want to-~~ didn’t want to what?, all the voices remained silent except for the two that had joined the panic attack at the beginning. 

~~ PAIN ~~

~~  
PAI- ~~

~~ *Papy, I’ve called Ink and Dream, they may have the means to resolve this! ~~

~~ PAIN   
  
PAIN   
  
PAIN   
  
PAIN ~~

The outside voices cut in and out, like radio static. It hurt your skull and you wanted everything to just stop, your voice was slowly starting to work on it’s own accord, carrying your thoughts along the line. But you still hadn’t spoken yet, just like all those times, you remained as silent as you could. You fell to your side due to shaking too much and took to scratching your skull in an effort to make everything be quiet. 

*ST-StOp

This line was repeated by you, several times, you laid there gasping and crying in a ball as Blue and Papyrus waited for Dream and Ink who were taking their sweet time even though Blueberry sounded code red, he and Papyrus had managed to finally make you stop scratching your skull but you went right back to scratching your ulna.

But you were still trapped in your jumbled up day terror of memories that were full of hate, sadness, desperation, pain, and an ungodly amount of fear. Hate had begun to spill from your sockets in heavy thick black goopy streams.

The perfect emotions to attract the guardians of negative and positive energy, Nightmare and Dream. You were too wrapped up in your panic that you didn’t notice the three additional presences appear, one watching from afar, curious about his best friend that he hasn’t seen in months and why he was in the presence of the Star Sanses, emitting such terribly wonderful energy. 

He was worried and his black goop dripped in anxiety at all the negative emotions that rolled off you in waves, no matter how powerful he felt from it or how much it riled his endless hunger for more. More of that delicious form of negativity that felt and tasted so much better when coming from you, so much bottled up for far too long, all released at once and he was nearly front and center to absorb and consume all that energy that brought him to be hated.

He nearly growled when Dream approached you and brought himself down to your level, but he opted to stay quiet and observe, he definitely wouldn’t be any help to your situation. Dream did as most spells required in Dreamtale and began to hum a sweet lullaby, one that excluded positivity which, along with your negativity being absorbed, made you calm drastically. Nightmare left before Dream and the others could notice his presence with worry in his skull.

Your arms fell down to the ground to lay limp and the thick hate that had begun to spill over from your eyes was slowed to a stop, you were in the grips of a dreamless sleep and it was helping you greatly in your recovery. Warmth radiated from Dream and Blue as they healed you in your sleep, it felt nice and Blue felt relieved when the calm settled on your face and he could sense the ease in your fractured soul.

*He’s asleep

Papyrus, who was mildly confused, questioned Dream on the situation. Dream looked over to Ink, as if asking permission, Ink gave the affirmative and a thumbs up for good luck as he and Blue stood off to the side in silence. Dream inhaled deeply though it was unneeded in an effort to calm himself after the use of special magic.

*As far as we know, Error has lost his memories but has common knowledge as well as some memory of things that are important to his job operation. He didn’t react badly when Ink touched him but I assume it was because he did not sense any ill intent towards him, whilst it was quite the opposite with you, who wanted to bring harm to his well being, triggering that. He must have had some kind of trauma that he had learned to direct into anger over time, the amnesia must have reset that ability.

Both of the Swap skeletons winced at the poor wording choice of Dream, resets were a sensitive subject in nearly every universe. Dream apologized for his wording, but Papyrus got the gest of the explanation anyway and explained that he felt a little bad, after all you couldn’t remember what  **Error** had done to their AU and couldn’t be at fault for the time being.

\------------------------------

When you woke up, Ink was busy standing next to the bed and staring at you in a worried manner. You would’ve screamed but you felt too drained and settled for jolting off the bed with a loud yelp and a wince when you landed on your bandaged ulna, then Ink peeked at you over the edge of the bed with a startled expression and you heard feet rushing up the stairs. 

*Are you okay???

*ERROR!?

The two voices overlapped each other, you just groaned and gave a thumbs up.

*’m-m f-f-FinE

Blue comes and helps you up off the ground before tugging you downstairs for breakfast, it’s surprisingly good and actually edible, you don’t know why it wouldn’t be. But you don’t eat much, even with both Dream and Blue urging you to. You refuse but thank them both for their help, as well as Ink and Papyrus.

*Why did you even come here anyway?

Papyrus speaks up with curiosity and it causes a chain reaction, every skull turns to you, you get a little flustered.

*I-I, u-uh, f-fOUnD WH-whAt waS cAUSIn-InG tHE-e COrRuption-tIoN

There are multiple gasps and their eye sockets are all saucer wide, Papyrus has dropped the cigarette he was going to light and rushed over to your side before you could blink, he probably teleported, with a large, almost creepy smile.

*What is it?

You let your lights flick to the ground and contemplate telling them that someone was messing with their code, it didn’t sound like the best idea but you were taking care of it anyhow. More people would only help the situation, especially since they knew what they were doing.

*H-hack-acker

It was only one simple word but everyone present knew what that meant, someone was playing with the code for different outcomes or to divert the punishment. You open the code and check to see the hacker’s whereabouts in this AU by using traces of their work.

Magic was ingrained into each glitch which meant it was a monster, you traced it back to a monster named Cawly, a not so well known fish monster that lived in water unlike Undyne but didn’t actually belong to this or any other particular AU or Timeline. 

But Papyrus knew him, and knew him well. How convenient it was for you, you were already thinking about your plan, the monster was a hacker’s disguised code that they added to help them but in the end it was only messing up the code, as it was very sloppily put together and ran with no testing.

*Th-i-iS-Sss Is grEat-aT, I-I-I hAVe a plAN 

You proceeded to share your admediatly sloppily put together plan. To which the others shared input and gave better ideas, everything was slowly coming together. Papyrus would ask the code bug to meet up somewhere they wouldn’t have a problem ‘disposing’ of the problem then Ink would capture it with some paint **-won’t he notice Ink’s stupidly huge paintbrush-** huh, that was a good point.

*One-oNe o-Of tHe-E voi-OicES sugGestS that-aT tHE gLiTCH-itcH may SEE-eee YoUR-oUr brush

Ink proceeded to paint a giant tree, which came into being right in front of him and effectively hid his entire form and then some. Perfect, Blue was going to do what he did best and act like he was looking for Papyrus due to them having to get to work and was ignorant of his actions and whereabouts, it wasn’t a lie at all and was a very great plan. Dream just settled with watching in case something went wrong and concealing his aura completely.

*Alright then, let's give this glitch  **_A BAD TIME_ **

The line sent shivers of excitement down your spine as you sat high above in a tree with the help of your strings, everyone else also got into position. You could hear Blue calling out Papyrus’ name from a distance, then a small monster walked into the clearing, “Heya, Papyrus, Blue’s looking for you, ya know?” he automatically said right off the bat and Papyrus nodded. “Yea’ but I haven’t seen you in a little while and I thought why not? Not like a human is comin’ by anytime soon” Papyrus shrugged with a lazy grin, managing to look completely at ease, **-as always, impressive-** _you_ agreed. 

The fish monster nodded with a thoughtful look, you opened his code to peer into the problem, you grinned widely as you began to mess around with the code harmlessly. You signal Ink and Papyrus, Ink splashes both of them as according and Papyrus acts freaked out and summons a Gaster Blaster which you split with your stings with ease, surprising yourself.

You can sense the fake coded soul inside the monster, it felt strange and you felt anger towards the source, you were livid as you watched the black and green with zeros and ones soul floated over to you. 

*So-O-o tHis-iS is-SsSSs The-E-e GlI-TCH??

You smile widely at the husk of a body that hangs limply without it’s soul and the others watch you curiously as you take the soul into your hands, having just came down from their spots, a screen of code opens in front of you at command and you see that it can’t exactly stay in the multiverse as it is now. You regard the soul curiously, what were you supposed to do with it now.

*Wh-whAt dO-o I do with-wITH it?

You turned to the others who were expecting you to do something like crushing it or tearing it in half, instead they watched you gently cradle the artificial soul in your hands as if it was a baby.  **-Absorb it-** wait what?!  _ You _ were shocked at the suggestion,  **Error** repeated the suggestion and you were confused. They others were curious about what was passing through your skull as your expression changed from confused to horrified to a mixture of the two.

*You-Ou want me-E-E TO-o-o do wHAt with-ItH tHE So-o-o-oUL?!

The others were taken aback by your shout of shock, now their curiosity had increased greatly and they inched a bit closer to you.

*What’s wrong?

Blue came from a bush and startled everyone, that was what Blue was good at after all, if he was quiet you could forget he was there at all. You hummed before showing Blue the soul that you were holding, he gasped and ooh’d in awe, then he reached out to it and touched it. A sharp buzzing sound sounded and Blue jolted back with an ouch as he cradled his hand.

*TH-tHEy want-ANt me-E-e-e to absORb the SOuL-ouL

You watched the others as their expressions ranged from shock to terror and Papyrus patted your shoulder with a sigh, he was frowning thoughtful as you flinched slightly at his touch.

*Maybe you shouldn’t listen, buddy

You hummed thoughtfully before nodding and went to hand the soul to Ink when the soul in your hands jerked in the direction of your sternum and you eep’d. You held it away from your chest as it kept trying to escape your grasp, it was effectively scaring you and the voices were silent. You didn’t know why they were, they just were, and it was freaking you out.

*HeLP-ELp

The others snapped from their temporary shock and rushed to help you get away from the soul, Ink grabbed it with a harsh grip but it continued to jerk towards you. A humming and sharp buzzing noise filled the air around you as Ink let go of the soul with a sharp gasp and jolt, the soul made a beeline to your sternum but when it made contact with you it disappeared and you felt immeasurable pain, you blacked out nearly instantly, shocking the skeletons around you. Ink scooped you up in his arms, hoping you were okay and no damage was done, before taking you to the Star Sanses base. You sunk into the depths of a dream that felt all too familiar and sent waves of contentment through your bones, as if you had dreamt this dream before, but....

  
  


When?

  
  
  


|You watched the small soul float in front of you, indistinguishable voices coming from all around you as you stared at it. It was a black inverted heart covered in so many cracks that revealed a purple glow beneath the black, the mere sight of the soul brought you happiness and contentment to your entire being, it was a type of beauty that you don’t believe anyone else could ever understand. It was like you were whole.

Something exciting yet brought you a calm feeling, happiness you think. You like the feeling, you want to find it’s source and never let it go.

It was like a light in the dark, a singular flower in a dead field. It was simply beautiful to you, and you don’t want to wake up if this is a mere dream.

You didn’t move to touch the soul and it didn’t move to touch you, you simply studied it. It’s curves, cracks, colors, and glow. All yours and the only thing you had to do is find them.|

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmates will exist in this fanfic, because why not? I love me some angst and fluff
> 
> The souls are only representation of a Soulmate, even for soulless beings. I repeat, souls are only used as symbols.
> 
> I will also try to update every 14th, which will be my birthday in November, so YAY!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! <3 
> 
> Also who do you guys think Error's/your Soulmates are? there are two, because I can't decide and they're both cute and very underrated ships


	4. FATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a weird dream of vague memories, a child and their bloody and dusty knife, and your brother. Then you meet Fate, they don't seem to like you one bit...
> 
> and you're powerless against them...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed my mind about the updates, I'll just release the chapters as soon as they're finished.

You come out of your sleep relatively slowly, awakening when someone slides into the spot next to you in the bed you assumed you were put in. you open your sockets slowly and look down slightly, spotting cyan blue and slate grey pajamas, which you assume to be Blue, though you can’t tell due to the culprit’s skull being buried into your own clothes as they hug you tightly.

*Blue?

The figure jolts slightly at your rough and slightly overlapping voice, though it comes out smoother than normal. They look up at you and you see that it is Blue, his big blue stared eyelights are settled above blue liquid tears that rest on the rims of his sockets.

*Error? Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you

You can’t help but smile and bring your hand up to softly rub his skull in a comforting mannar. Your browbones furrow lightly and you whisper lowly.

*Did-Id you ha-HavE a niGht-NighTMAre?

He nods and you frown lightly, you tell him he can tell you if he’d like but he declines. You don’t push and simpily resume stroking his skull softly, you hum as well but don’t sing aloud, you feel like your voice glitching would wake him from his sleepy state, even though he was already awake. He snuggles back into your chest and you look over at a digital clock placed on the bedside table, 1:30 AM, it’s early.

You hum a tune that played in your dream, the name being more familiar than _your_ own mother’s. Keep Breathing by Ingrid Michaelson. You could hear the lyrics play out in your head, pure memory, built into _your_ bones _,_ heh. You smirk while humming at the inner pun, though it would’ve been funnier if someone groaned at the terrible pun, that was always the best part, **-of course- Error** seemed to agree with you, _you_ did too. 

It doesn’t take too much time before you hear light, almost non-existent, snoring from the small skeleton and you can’t help but airily giggle. He snuggles deeper into your clothing and you notice his hold is lighter than earlier, you wrap your other arm around him and fall back into a blissful slumber.

|It’s bright, _so bright_. 

There is someone in front of you, your brother. Not _your_ brother, but Papyrus. He turns to face you. You smile softly at the bright smile he gives you as you bounds over to you.

*SANS

You watch as he stands, looking down at you with his hands perched on his hip bones. He’s holding a box, peaking your curiosity.

*What’s in the box, bro?

He smiles brighter, and hands it to you, you notice he is no longer wearing his scarf. You pull the bright baby blue ribbon and he begins speaking again but in a much more jolly tone with a strange undertone of “I know”.

*I SAW HOW YOU LOOKED AT MY SCARF AND HOW YOU LOOKED ALONE UNTIL YOU HEARD MY VOICE AND FIGURED THAT YOU JUST NEEDED A PIECE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO ACCOMPANY YOU

You take off the top and see his reddish orange scarf sitting inside, you smile brightly and beam at him.

*Yeah, ‘s just what I needed bro

And when you got home you knitted another for him, interwoven with cyan blue strands. When you give it to him, he smiles brightly and puts it on enthusiastically. He poses dramatically.

*You look amazing, bro. Lookin’ really hip.

You wink with a tired chuckle.

*WELL, OF COURSE-. SANS!!!!!

Papyrus groans and you giggle. You stop when the scene changes to show dark red and dusty grey staining the snow, Papyrus’ clothes laid where he once stood, a child just a bit taller than you walking away, a toy knife with a sharpened edge in their tight grip as tears streamed down your face.

Everything passed in a blur and you were in the judgement hall, you watched them walk towards you. Your perpetual smile being more forced than usual, they stop a couple paces away on a tile. Their deranged smile and red eyes will haunt your dreams forever.

*Heya…

*You’ve been busy, huh?

It was more of a statement than a question. They tilted their head slightly, their chin-length hair swaying, but they stayed silent. How many times have you done this?

*So, I’ve got a question for ya.

*Do you think that even the worst person can change?...

*That everybody can be a good person, if they just try?

You chuckle bitterly and that terrible smile on their face falters for a mere second, you wonder if the kid is still in there, somewhere. No, they're gone, this is a demon.

*All right.

*Well, here’s a better question.

The shadows seem to darken and your facade of nonchalance sinks with the light.

*Do you wanna have a bad time?

*’Cause if you take another step forward…

You gesture to their feet and they follow the point before looking back up at you.

*You are REALLY not going to like what happens next.

Your eyelights disappear and they step forward. 

*Welp

You shrug with a sigh.

*Sorry, old lady…

*This is why I never make promises.

Your vision floats to the windows and you listen for a second, the birds sound wonderful today, their song reflects the state of nature, beautiful.

*It’s a beautiful day outside.

*Birds are singing, flowers are blooming

A slight eased smile finds its way onto your face before being wiped off quickly.

*On days like these, kids like you…

Your right eyelight vanishes and your left glows bright with your magic. Your voice deepens and sounds demonic, their eyes widen slightly before they seem to check you again.

* **Should be burning in hell**!

The fight and your conversation seems to blur together as you encourage them to stop, they keep refusing, no matter how many times you kill them. It never worked and never will. You’re so tired...

You use your gravity magic to keep them in place as you decide to rest your eyes for a moment.

You fall asleep but are still aware. You hear them zoom towards you and dash to the side. You wink at them as you turn to face them.

*Heh, did you really think you’d be able to-?

You stop at the sound of dripping, pain spreads through your chest and you look down. There is a red slash on your chest, dripping with marrow. You bring a hand to your chest and hold your wound, a cough has blood spilling from your mouth as your grin remains. Their expression is full of crazed happiness.

*So…

*That’s it, huh?...

You breathe out softly with a light chuckle, finally…

*Just-...

*Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

*Well…

*I’m going to Grillby’s.

*Papyrus…, do you want anything?

And then you saved before being trapped in the anti-void when the kid erased your timeline, completely. A familiar name pops into your head, two actually, “Geno” and “Reaper”.|

You jolt awake, and see Blue, still snoring softly in your arms. You look at the clock again, 4:30 AM, you’re pretty sure Blue wakes up at 6 AM. you gently pull your arm out from under him and bring your other arm back to your side before untangling your legs. You uncover yourself and get out of the bed, you cover Blue back up carefully and make your way down the stairs and search for the kitchen. You find it relatively easily, Dream is sitting at the table sipping tea, you jolt.

*Go-gooD moRnING, Dream, WhAT m-MIght YOu-ou be-eee DOIng AWAkE-Wake So EarLy?

He faces you fully before setting his tea down, he looks stressed, you note.

*Us, guardians, do not need sleep for energy. May I ask the same question to you as well, Error?

You nod in understanding and just say you had a nightmare. He nods and returns to his cup of tea.

*I-I waS GoiNG-InG tO-o MAke-aKe breAkFAst, ANy reQuesTS?

Dream once again, acknowledges you and takes a moment to think briefly.

*Waffles and fruit, please, Blue likes sweet but healthy things.

You nod and search the cabinets for what you need, you find a waffle pan easily. The ingredients were harder to find, you found bananas, strawberrys, and blueberries for fruit and sliced them up nicely. You had to make the mix yourself which was still easy, and you made some strawberry cream cheese to put on top. There was also honey in the fridge which was much better than syrup. You finished cooking by 5:20 AM and prepared the plates, you added bacon to make the meal better, because bacon is awesome and you will fight people who say otherwise.

You hear Ink shouting upstairs and slam a door open before running downstairs. 

*Dream! Have you seen Blue?, he’s not in his room!

You could see Dream shrug from the kitchen.

*He-he hAd-D a NightMARe-maRE and SlePT-EpT in The-EE room I-I was-sss I-in

You say from the kitchen, you hear Ink shout a thank you after he fumbles a bit, you guess he didn’t realize you were there. You place a plate in front of Dream and see his eyes turn to stars, pretty.

*Wow, thank you, Error. It looks amazing!

You can’t help your blush as you place the other plates, no mess in the kitchen was left. 

*Thank-aNk yOU

He nods before tasting the waffle, and then he-. He moaned! Your blush is now covering your skull, who moans when they eat?! Dream once again compliments your cooking and your flustered face feels like it may explode. Ink and Blue come downstairs, you greet them both and tell them you made them breakfast. Dream tells them how good it is and you think you can feel steam coming off of you.

Everyone enjoys the food, it was amazingly good. Blue thanks you for comforting him last night when he had the nightmare. You try to speak but nothing comes out so you settle for petting his skull.

*So, Error, mind telling us what happened yesterday?

You blank and give a questioning look accompanied by a tilt of your skull.

*With the coded soul

Dream so nicely explains and you get what Ink was asking but you have no idea yourself.

You shrug. Ink deadpans and you giggle at his face.

*You...don’t know?

*No-nOpe

You shake your head from left to right and pop the P, finding it strange to be able to, without lips. Ink looks frustrated, like he wants to hit you but is refraining from doing so, you find it funny and clench your jaw to keep from busting out into laughter. Small snickers of amusement force their way through your teeth.

*So Blue had a nightmare last night? No wonder I felt negativity.

Your browbones furrow, **-Empaths are a race of beings that can influence and sense emotions, while Dream is more sensitive to positive emotion, he can still sense any negativity especially in close quarters like this house- Error** so helpfully explains. You hum before going into the kitchen to make some Echo Flower tea that you had spotted in the cabinet, that tea always went well with honey if you didn’t put too much, though Papyrus always liked to put a lot and even then preferred Golden Flower tea. You sigh at the fond memory before blinking in surprise, you place what you had got out onto the counter and briskly walk into the living room, where the Star Sanses seem to be discussing something.

*I-I reMembErED SOMethInG!!

You're bouncing in place with excitement as they turn to you with wide sockets, Blue is donning a bright beaming smile, while Dream and Ink seem a bit nervous. 

*What did you remember?

Blue hurriedly gets up and makes his way to you, his eyelights are stars.

*M-my BRoTher-tHer!!

Blue tilts his skull, Ink and Dream both furrow their brow bones.

*You have a brother?

Ink was the one to speak, you’re pretty sure he’s known you the longest out of the Star Sanses, though Blue knew you best. 

*Why haven’t you ever spoken about him?

Blue seems to mutter to himself.

*I su-supPosE beCAUse-cAuse he’s-He’S dEAD

You shrug, Blue looks apologetic, Dream does as well. Ink looks more curious than before and stares at you, probably trying to figure something out.

*What was his name?

You frown, trying to remember, then a lightbulb goes off in your head.

*Pap-PAp

You choke on the tears that spill from your eyes at even trying to mention that name.

*Papyrus

You spoke it softly but loud enough for them to hear, they had probably expected his name would be papyrus, almost every sans had one. You could practically read the questions on their minds, “What happened?”.

*I-I’m gONNA go-O mAKe-aKe some tea-eA

You walk back into the kitchen and prepare some Echo Flower Honey tea, your favorite, very calming. **-The best tea-** **Error** chimed, after tasting it _you_ couldn’t help but agree with his assessment. It was smooth, sweet, strong, hot, but not overwhelming in any way. Just how you love your tea.

**-It would’ve gone great with breakfast-** you can’t help but agree, though _you_ were still half-asleep at the time and didn’t really pay attention to the taste. You end up making a lot of the tea and end up storing it in the fridge, you still had two cups though, it was too good to pass up. 

You cleaned the dishes that were used that morning, and alerted the Star Sanses that there was tea in the fridge before leaving. You did have things to do after all, like figuring out who Geno and Reaper were, and why you felt different at those names. It was all just so, how to explain it, strange…

The moment you enter the anti-void, you know someone is there, you aren’t alone. Yet you can’t visually detect anyone. You let your lights briefly scan the area, nothing, except the dolls and souls that hung from the non-existent ceiling. You _can_ feel someone there though, their presence is unmistakably deadly. Instinctual fear courses through your bones.

**-Fate isn’t a very nice person- Error** whispers, and for some reason the voices in your head quiet. You’re suddenly restrained in strings, black strings, not blue like your own. Something built into your bones tells you to go limp and so you do, fearful of the situation. Whispers come from around you, for once, they are not the ones inside your head. They all seem disembodied, not belonging to one entity. 

“What’s this?”, they seem to whisper all at once, slightly overlapping each other. “My toy has had an unauthorized upgrade?”, the voices sound slightly angry and taken aback by the insubordination. The strings tighten painfully, you can’t help a whimper that slides out of your teeth. They cut into your bones and marrow leaks through each cut, staining the strings with glowing blue. You tremble, completely at the mercy of the strings, they seem to be growing tighter and you find breathing hard. 

Then a snap resounds through the space and you scream in pain, the voices laugh in joy. You look to the ground when you hear a slight thump, through the tears streaming down your face, you see your leg. It’s detached from your body and is laying on the ground, marrow spilling heavily from both your leg and where it came off at. The break is jagged and you can barely see it because of your basketball shorts that fall just over your knees. Tears stream down your face uncontrollably, they drip down to the floor by your leg as well.

You can feel them watching you as you squirm slightly in discomfort and pain but do your best to stay limp, “Aww, is my little toy sad and in pain?”, the way they speak is taunting and cruel. Your sockets sting from the amount of tears, your throat aches with a want to scream and yell, yet you manage to stay silent. Your bones tremble as the strings tighten and loosen teasingly, another snap but this time it’s one of your phalanges, you cry out in pain.

You don’t see anyone as you feel the ghost of a hand cup your skull, you whimper and the voices chuckle as they fade away. You use your stings to bring your detached leg and phalange to you, using the stings you manage to sew the limbs back on with much pain. You didn’t move them though and used your strings to maneuver you onto the couch, you found some bandages and wrapped your arms, legs, and hands. You outstretched your left hand and opened a portal to a universe, you took some food and ate it, you didn’t bother apologizing though. 

You decided to sleep, sleeping always helps. **-You okay?- Error** asks as you get comfortable, you give him the affirmative, it was a lie and you all knew that. The voices don’t seem to be returning for now. You ask **Error** if there was anything he did that you could as well, you were very bored and couldn’t fall asleep unless you were tired which you weren’t yet. **-Turn on some Undernovela-** you somehow know what that is instantly and flip on to an episode, oh, drama.

You watch the Sans hold his gun surely, it seems to be a fight. He ushers Toriel out of the room as he and Asgore point their guns at mysterious people, Toriel seems to be pregnant, about seven to eight months in appearance, unless she’s bearing multiple children. Asgore glares at Sans out of the corner of his eye as Sans smirks smugly before returning his attention to the, now, shoot off.

Sans ducks behind the kitchen counter as you notice that they're inside a house, Asgore is at the front of the couch as they shoot at the door. You see someone enter from behind the two, the backdoor or a window you suppose. They grab Sans from behind and point the gun at his skull, you grab some candy and snacks from a random universe as you watch the man threaten to shoot him, unless they surrender. At the angle you can see from, the front yard is full of dead bodies but the man claims that backup is on the way. 

You forget about the stings and aches of your wounds as someone shoots the man, the angle changes to show a pregnant Toriel holding a revolver, she breathes out as she lowers the gun and both Sans and Asgore rush to make sure she is okay. Once they confirm she is alright, they gather all their valuables and some other things, load them up in the car and drive away. 

The screen changes to multiple black SUVs that pull up about thirty minutes after the three leave, they raid the house for information on their location but find nothing. They find old IDs with the same couple of pictures but different names and information. You decide to close the portal as you yawn, you use your strings to throw a blanket over you before going to sleep. Maybe you’ll dream of better memories this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> <3 
> 
> Have a nice day/night!


	5. A Dream And Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just Nightmare...

|Again, black hums around you. Faintly familiar songs play as you spot the soul again, but this time, there is another. It is black, just black, unlike the first, and it also seems to be more solid instead of dripping that black substance. They both float side by side, and they seem to bask contently in each other's glow, they’re beautiful. Cracks show how much pain they have both endured, and you admire each one, they’re carved like symbols and words.

You want to run your boney phalanges over the cracks and curves but you are also afraid to touch them. They look so fragile and you may break them with your carelessness. You watch them in all their beauty as they seemingly dance around each other and you, like how the moon orbits the Earth and the Earth, in turn, orbits the sun. They float at a moderate pace, not too slow, not too fast. You follow them with your gaze and they glow brighter than before. They come closer and you reach out a hand, as gently as you can.|

You wake up gently, but you feel like the dream ended too soon. That feeling from yesterday is there and you want to break down out of sheer fear, the feeling vanishes quickly and you guess they were watching you in your sleep. You shiver, you really don’t want to be here anymore, not alone at least. You know Ink and a few others can enter your anti-void, but you want someone you trust, which is a very sparse list right now. 

*Error?

You hear someone call out and flinch, you were so absorbed in your thoughts that you didn’t notice anyone enter the void, their voice is deep and rumbles with authority but also smooth and hypnotizing. You struggle to look towards where the voice came from, it’s-

*Nightmare?

It’s a whisper and you find it strange that you automatically know the name but he seems to hear you as he turns your way, your peering over the front of the couch and your body is hidden by it. You desperately hope he doesn’t come over and see you but that hope dwindles as he begins walking over to you.

*W-waIT, don-don’T COMe oVEr-vER 

He stops and raises a brow bone, looking slightly annoyed and slightly puzzled.

*Why?

*U-Uh

You stumble, looking for an explanation.

*I-i’m NAKed-eD?

It sounds more like a question than a statement and Nightmare looks unconvinced, he also looks slightly flustered, a nice bluish teal coloring his cheeks. 

*You don’t sound too sure of yourself there, Error?

Crap, he’s onto you. -We can trust Nightmare- Error reassures you, you sigh.

*Fine, j-jUSt don-DoN’T freak-EAk out

He comes closer and eventually rounds the side of the couch, the first thing he sees is your bruised and bandaged body. You had taken off your shirt, scarf, and jacket in order to wrap your spine and ribs as well. His sockets went wide and his tendrils slithered out to grab a hold of you, you hiss in pain and he apologizes.

*What the heck happened to you?!

You look down and sigh. You sit up and scoot yourself to one side, making room for Nightmare. He sits beside you and looks at you expectantly, he wants an answer but you don’t really know what to tell him. You drag your hands down your face and flinch when you accidentally scrape the one that was broken on your jaw.

*I-I reAlLy do-dOn’T WANNa-na taLk aBou-aBOut it

You pause.

*I lOSt mY-mY memORY

It’s a murmured whisper but Nightmare has always had great hearing.

*What? You don’t remember stuff, then why’d you remember me?

*I can-AN stILl RE-rEMeMbER So-sOMe stuff, iMPOrtaNt-TAnT thInGS-InGS...

He nods in understanding, but still remains looking puzzled.

*Sooo? I’m important to you?

You nod slightly, -yes- Error confirms. You feel a bit of lemon yellow tint your cheeks, in embarrassment or dizzy joy, you're not sure. Your eyelights dart over to his face quickly, it’s glowing bluish teal, he looks at you and you quickly avert your gaze. You hear him chuckle before feeling his tendril around your hips, you wince in pain but annoyance feels stronger at the moment.

*Nightmare?!

*I’ve never really liked this place, you're coming with me. We need to talk anyway, I need your help with something important

That’s all he says as he begins to sink into the ground, taking you with him, despite your shouts at him to put you down. He ignores you, you're legitimately extremely annoyed by it. Before you know it you find yourself in his castle, in a bedroom where he simply sets you down. You cross your arms and tap your foot with a brow bone raised in question, Nightmare seems amused by you, his tendrils disappear into the dripping goop that covers his body. 

*W-well?

Nightmare hums before throwing a jacket at you, you put it on, already being self conscious of your body.

*I’m going to alert everyone here of your situation and that you’ll be staying for a bit

You try to protest but you only get a couple words out before he sinks into the ground. You sigh in frustration as you look around the room, it’s mainly comprised of darker colors but you see royal purple here and there, along with bluish teal. The comforter is royal purple but the bed frame was teal and black, there is a nice chair and couch in the corner of the room with a table separating the two. There is a book on the table, a black bookmark doing it’s job between the half-way point of the book, you read the title, “The Road To Paradise Island”. 

You had read that once or twice before, it’s an adventure and romance book, accompanied by some darker undertones. It was an amazing book, you briefly wonder if Nightmare reads similar books, or is he just trying to look for any information on the black plague. You sit back down on the bed and wait for Nightmare or someone else to come get you, it’s not like you knew your way around here, -I don’t even visit this place often and have only traversed about ¼ of the castle- Error says, to which you gape in awe. You inwardly complain about how long he’s taking, getting agreements from both yourself and Error. Error suggests that he may just be taking a while to mess with you.

You restrain from plopping backwards on the large bed due to boredom, you don’t want to rumple the nicely made bed. -Do some knitting- Error says, you agree that it is a productive activity and summon the needles and the blue strings that were wrapped around in a ball to look like yarn or thread, your strings have a consistency of yarn. -Never let anyone touch the strings while they’re attached, it’s like touching a cat’s whiskers and hurts if they try to pull them- Error warns, you take that to heart.

You twine and twist the strings together, and the pieces gradually come together to make something about the size of your hand when Nightmare walks in. You continue what you are doing with no mind for him, you don’t want to lose concentration. Though you still watch him from your peripheral vision as he sits next to you and watches you work, you falter slightly when the bed sinks with his weight but continue when you can feel it settle. You end up knitting a nice scarf and wrap it around your neck, you had taken the other one off when you bandaged yourself, you unsummon the tools and look at Nightmare.

*You-Y-you toOk-OK awHile-ILe 

*What did you expect? I am not a high ethereal entity that can bend space and time to my exact will.

You snort at that, but he was an Empath. You hear him groan in displeasure.

*Ew, positivity, disgusting.

You full on laugh at his discomfort, he groans a bit louder but you can hear a reluctant smile in his voice. 

*You are so lucky you are my best friend

You place a hand over your sternum and make a awing sound, he scoffs. Your non-existent stomach growled and you briefly wondered how. -Just take this answer for everything that shouldn’t be possible, MAGIC~!- you could feel Error’s mental jazz hands and sarcasm. Nightmare laughed.

*Are you hungry?

You nod sheepishly, yellow covering your face.

*Ye-yes-sss

He helps you up and you both walk to the kitchen, he sits himself down in the dining room right beside the kitchen.

*Help yourself

*Do-o yOU-oU wAN-wAnt aNy-ANYthing?

He nods but says to cook what you want, that no one will protest. You give a nod as he asks you to cook for everyone there, you nod.

*HoW MAny-aNy LiVE HErE-HeRe?

The answer you recieve is partially expected but you are still wowed by how many people live here.

*Around ten monsters in total

You nod and start making tacos, because one, they were totally your jam, two, your tacos were bomb, three, they were filling. You make plenty extra as well, by the time you finish, you realize you were humming and stop before making yourself two fatly stuffed tacos-yummy~- Error chimes, happily. When you turn around, Nightmare looks at you then at the tacos like he’s trying to figure something out. -Like heck he’s gonna judge us, cute overgrown octopus- you ask him to repeat that sentence, you’re not sure if you caught it, -screw off, Glitch-, you inwardly laugh at the conversation between Error and yourself.

*Wh-what?

*Nothing, just wondering how someone that rarely ever cooks and always criticizes other’s food, food’s taste like

Both of your voices slightly echo in the large kitchen, you hurriedly make a moderately sized taco and give it to Nightmare.

*If-if you’re-Re sO-o CURioUs, wHy dO-doN’T YOu-yOu tR-TrY IT-t?

He looks at you then at the taco, as if seeing if you’re trying to poison him, -as if, I’d never- Error proclaims, Nightmare picks up the taco and takes a large bite. You were planning to be a professional chef, you can see a twinkle in his eyelight but he makes no other slips that he likes the food as he eats.

*You-you-yOu likE It

It was more of a statement than a question, though he nodded before getting up and stuffing himself a fatter taco, your giggles caused him to twitch. Nightmare releases a pulse of magic and you can hear multiple feet come patting down the stairs at an alarming rate. Everyone rushes into the room and begins making a plate as Nightmare invites you to sit down at the table’s head beside him, Killer, Nightmare’s right hand monster, sits across from you. He regards you curiously, you’ve probably never had a real proper one on one conversation with any of Nightmare’s subordinates except Cross, -Cross probably hates me-us, you remind-us for taking his soul awhile back- Error says. 

You can feel Cross’ death glare on you despite the stretch of the table, you gulp in nervousness and second-hand regret. Nightmare seems to notice your discomfort right away.

*Now, now. Error, despite his condition, as I have revealed, has been so kind as to make us a nice meal. Let us not waste it.

You flush yellow as heads turn your way, you want to sink into yourself. You’re suddenly very aware that you're wearing nothing but your shorts, a scarf, and one of Nightmare’s large black jackets that is starting to slide off your shoulder blade to show some of your clavicle. You feel your hands twitch in nervousness and you place them in your lap, you silently fiddle with them as everyone eyes you. You glance at Nightmare in annoyed curiosity, -that dumb octopus!- Error seems to yell in your head, Nightmare seems amused and you, unknowingly, pout. 

Nightmare seems to hurriedly look away from you, much to your confusion. You can hear Killer snicker before Nightmare looks at everyone with a serious look, they all straighten and look straight at him, as if standing at attention but while sitting.

*Well, what are you all waiting for? 

Everyone begins eating to your relief, they look to be enjoying it as well. You eat yours at a moderate pace and by the end of dinner you feel awesome. They all stay sitting.

*Thank you for the meal, Error!

The voices overlap slightly and for a mere second you fear that you’re still in the anti-void and Fate is waiting for you to wake up, you snap back quickly with a stutter of welcome after remembering that you normally didn’t feel pain in dreams, especially one this good, but you have, your body still aches and stings from your encounter with Fate. 

*You are all dismissed!

Everyone, excluding you and Nightmare, stands and makes their way back up the stairs. You look to Nightmare, he looks at you. 

*Come on

You follow him as he stands and walks up the stairs.

*Where-eRE aRe-RE we gOIng-iNg?

*To my room

You shrug to yourself, trying to figure out why. Surely, you’d get your answer soon enough. He leads you through the corridors and it seems to be the same path you’d taken to get to the kitchen, but the castle seemed slightly darker, it felt calming. He opened the door to the room you had previously exited and entered. You followed, the door shutting with one of Nightmare’s tendrils locking it. 

*Why were you with the Star Sanses?

It’s merely a question and he doesn’t seem angry in any way.

*I-I rAn-AN into Ink-InK WHiLe-ILe doiNg mY-MY j-JoB

It takes about five full minutes to explain the story, as well as answer any questions Nightmare asks. You’re careful with your phrasing and wording. When you finish Nightmare lets you sleep in his bed, it’s soft in every meaning of the word. You fall asleep quickly, to the scratch of pencil to parchment paper.

|You gasp, the feeling of water rushing over your face as you emerge from underneath. You laugh loudly as your brother approaches you. 

*SANS!

You sink down a bit, to where only your sockets are visible.

*’Sup, bro?

Bubbles rise with your sentence, it’s hard to hear.

*YOU KNOW WHAT’S ‘SUP, BROTHER!

You grin as you get out of the cold water, you had fallen in when you heard him calling your name, it was earlier than the last reset. You had checked your watch to be sure. A change was routine every five or so resets but there was just a change last reset, Papyrus had gotten a call from Undyne telling him that she had gotten a new anime from Alphys. And when you say he came early, you mean early, a good thirty minutes early. 

This was the-. You wait until Papyrus turns away and pull back your right sleeve, a number is carved into your arm, slightly dripping marrow. One hundred-forty-three, you pull the sleeve back down and drag your hand over your face tiredly, dropping your perpetual grin flat.

*BROTHER?

You pull on a lazy grin and drop your hand back into your pocket. You face your brother.

*Yeah, bro?

He fiddles with his phalanges through the gloves. You remember how he’d accidentally hurt himself while doing it, you got worried enough to buy him very tough and expensive gloves, they did good on protecting his fragile porcelain bones. It was worth it, you hated seeing his bloodied and broken phalanges, you hated seeing him hurt. 

*YOU-…

*YOU’RE SADDER AND MORE TIRED THAN USUAL, IT’S-...

*WORRYING, BROTHER. I AM WORRIED ABOUT YOU.

You frown to some extent, your perpetual smile making it hard to not grin. Papyrus isn’t smiling and his eyelights are focused on the ground, his brow bones are furrowed and his fiddling has grown more insistent. You grab his hands and pull them away from each other, drawing Papyrus’ attention with your actions. 

*’m sorry, bro. Didn’t mean to worry ya

You smile softly and hug him, burying your face into his white battlebody top. His arms also curl around you firmly, as if he was afraid to let you go. You pull back a bit but don’t release the hug.

*See, ‘m fine. I told ya before didn’t I, I ain’t goin’ anywhere anytime soon. I promised not to fall down on you, didn’t I?

You can’t see Papyrus’ face but you can feel the wetness that drips onto your skull.

*YES

His voice cracks at the end of the word and you feel him shaking, yeah, this is definitely new.

*You know how much promises mean to me?…

You can feel the nod in the slight movement of his bones.

You feel uneasy.|

You open your sockets, you see slight sunlight stream through a window, but it’s covered by dark purple curtains. You sit up and rub your socket with a balled fist. You look around, spotting Nightmare at the table, reading the book and you can’t help but smile before you feel a yawn. You stretch and the yawn breaks out, it turns into a moan at the sensation of stretching, you really can’t help it. A accidently pop sounds out through the room and your face lights up in yellow.

*I-I am-m-aM SO-O-o sORRy-SORry

You glitch even more in nervousness and embarrassment, Nightmare’s face is clearly shocked even as purple and bluish teal leak through to paint his face heavily. You cover your face with your hands and groan in embarrassment, you hear the rustle of paper and the thump of something, perhaps the book, hitting the table. You tense when you feel Nightmare’s presence right next to you.

*Hey, I am not angry, do not worry, Error. I was just surprised, I am not your lover after all.

You hear him murmur something under his breath as you uncover your face, you hum in question. He is obviously flustered and says it was nothing, he walks back to the table and sits down before resuming his reading. You open a portal to the anti-void and snatch some clothes you had taken before destroying that universe, just a simple black with white sleeves shirt and black basketball shorts. 

Nightmare allows you to use his private restroom, he points you over to the third door in the room, it’s left of the door you use to exit into the hallway, you assume the other is his closet or something similar. It seems you and Error, the real Error, are still asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you guys like it?
> 
> 3,099 words, I always try to have over 3,000


	6. Oh, Nightmare and Fixing Things With Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a small run in with Cross after having a really intimate but tiring moment with Nightmare, and you find out something important...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it was a little later than I'd like but I'm having problems

The warm water flowing over and between your bones felt amazing. A random thought popped into your head, “If someone dies in the living room, is it still the living room?”. You deadpan and just continue washing yourself quickly. 

After washing, you make sure to thoroughly dry yourself, getting in all the dips, cracks, and joints. You look in the mirror before getting dressed, you looked adorable. “Am I narcissistic?”, you briefly remember Nightmare and how you fundamentally have the same face. You decide, “Yes”, you are. You chuckle to yourself before stepping out of the bathroom, the overly large shirt only slightly exposing your bones compared to Nightmare’s larger clothes. 

He seems to still be reading the book, except he’s migrated over to the bed and is laying flat on his front, facing the bathroom door. You hear him make noises of wonder and annoyance quietly, you wonder what part he’s at. You silently creep over to him and peer over his shoulder, he’s at the middle of the book, you honestly love and yet hated this part. Nightmare looks over his shoulder at you.

*What are you doing, Error?

You give a not so innocent giggle and lid your eyes mockingly.

*I DiD-dIDn’T KnOW-Ow YOu-YOU-ou WeRE-Re InT-INto ROmAnCE-ANcE, Nighty

You watch him do a minor jolt. 

*Whatever makes you think that, Error, and Nighty?

You shrug.

*I’vE reAd-EaD ThAT-At b-BoOK, iT’S a ROmANce and-Nd AdVEntURe-TuRE NoVEL. And-and Nighty J-J-Just SEem-sEemeD to-O fIT

You see a bead of magical sweat run down his skull as he flushes bluish teal in embarrassment. He puts the bookmark in and shuts the book firmly before getting up and putting it on the table. You sit back on the bed with an amused grin,-this funny- you agree, you wonder when they woke up but push the thought away to instead watch this scene play out. 

You hear Nightmare rumble, it sounds similar to a pur but close to a growl. He turns around and looks at you, you look right back, slightly unnerved by his suddenness. 

*Error, I’m hungry

Nightmare’s blush that seemed to disappear comes back full force but he maintains firm contact, you shake with stifled laughter.

*LeT’s-ssss gO-O-o th-tHeN

You move to get up and walk to the exit but Nightmare stops you.

*That’s not what I meant…

His flush grows deeper and your confusion rises. 

*WhAT-At dO-o YOU-YoU M-m-mEaN ThEN?

You raise your brow bone at him as his tendrils wiggle anxiously and he shifts from one foot from the other.

*Can I eat your negativity?

It comes out a bit too fast but you hear it, you blank.

*Uu-uH, SUrE?

Nightmare moves over to you and sits next to you, he leans towards you and brings your face closer to his with his hands. For a moment you believe he is going to kiss you but instead he just lays his skull against yours, your nasal bones nearly touching. You feel his magic inside you and you feel lightheaded, this feels more intimate than it should, you suppose it’s because he asked when he normally wouldn’t and would wait for his victim to sleep. You flush a little, feeling really lightheaded all the sudden. You make a noise to warn Nightmare before you feel yourself start to lean one way, you can’t stop yourself as you slump onto Nightmare and your eyes force themselves closed. You feel Nightmare jolt in shock before you fall from awareness into a dream.

|Flowers surround you as you pick another, you giggle when you hear footfalls behind you, already knowing who it is as you work on the item in your small hands.

*Sans? What are you doing?

You turn around and there is your father, W.D. Gaster. You giggle as he scoops you up into his arms, you plop the item onto his head and he looks surprised before giving you a gentle smile.

*I made you a flower crown, daddy!!

You smile widely and you hear him chuckle before feeling a clunk against your skull. He accepted the skeletal kiss gratefully and returned one to Gaster’s skull as well. He smiled as you pulled away, the golden flower crown resting gently on his head.

*Come, Sans. I have something to show you

You grabbed his hand as he led you in the familiar direction of the labs. 

It was quiet, which meant most of your dad’s partners had left for the day. He brought you to a large room, a lot of large machines sat inside but what drew your attention was the small skeleton inside a tank. Light blue liquid floated inside with him, he seemed to be asleep, he was a lot smaller than you. 

*Who’s that, daddy?

Gaster smiled at you, he kneeled down to your level.

*That’s your baby brother, Sans

You tilt your head and your perpetual grin widens to an excited smile.

*Really?!

He nods.

*His name is Papyrus

You echo the name that flows from your father’s mouth.

*Papyrus…

Your smile calms to a soft grin.

*Pap…|

You feel warm and don’t want to open your eyes. You snuggle deeper into the warmth, you hear a hum and feel the vibrations of the noise flow through the warmth, you decide not to question it and instead enjoy it while it lasts.

The warmth shifts away from you and you can’t help but whine and grab it, holding it close to your ribs. It shakes but you’re too tired to bother yourself enough to care.

*I didn’t know you were a cuddle type, Error

Your eyes shoot open and you jump away from the warmth in shock, landing hard on the floor on your tailbone. You groan and Nightmare leans over the gap in the bed space to peer at you. You whine and rub your tailbone as you get up, as if it will make the pain lessen. You look at Nightmare’s face and can’t help but pout at him for scaring you. You think you actually saw him falter for a second, but alas that second was over shortly and Nightmare turned over onto his side, light snoring could be heard only minutes later.

You snort before a pang of hunger reminds you that you have yet to eat anything and the mind-bonding, if that’s what you could even call it, from earlier has taken a large toll on your magic. You rub your shirt where your stomach would be before making your way to the door and exiting the room, you walk down the quiet hallway. Walking into the kitchen you spot a flash of white and black out of the corner of your eye, you don’t think much of it as you make your way to the fridge where you stored leftovers, as you take out the items, you wonder if they have any coffee or black tea.

Both sound heavenly as you stuff two tacos after warming up the meat. You look around and spot Cross, standing in the corner of the room, if glares could kill, you’d never reincarnate again. You give a shake of fear, you have no means to protect yourself should he choose to attack. You give a short wave before turning your back to him and going to grab your plate. Before you can process it you’ve been slammed into the wall with a skeletal hand around your vertebrae, your eyes wide as you gasp for breath and glitch violently. The mere touch to your bones sending painful jolts through your body as you remain pinned to the wall, phlanages barely scraping the floor.

Painful clear blue tears at the edge of your sockets, vision blurring at the lack of magic entering your body. 

*Why are you here?

You whimper, his deep snarling voice startling you as you glitched wildly. You gasp in pain as his grip tightens, your hands pulling at his. You claw at his ulna, trying to make him let you go, you screw your eyes shut as another painful glitch racks over your body. 

*I-I. Nightmare MAde mE-E COmE!

Cross dropped you to the floor, you heaved in air as you choked on your tears that had begun to stream down your face, hiccups making their way out of your teeth. You scrubbed the sleeves against your sockets and cheeks, trying to erase the tear stains that were always there. You gave up and looked up at Cross, he looked genuinely surprised he made you cry, you looked at his unla as marrow hit the floor. It came from both, his clawed phlanages and his arms, where short, shallow scratches lay. 

You can feel liquid slide down your vertebrae, you know it’s marrow right away, feeling the sting that accompanied it. You hiss, your hand flying up to the bruised and bloodied vertebrae. He clicks his tongue and you blink up at him.

*Wh-what? How-Ow dID yoU-YoU dO-o ThAt?

Cross looked at you weirdly.

*I just literally choked you and you want to know how I- actually, what are you talking about?

*Th-thE cLIcK

Cross looks startled by your curiosity, as if it was common knowledge. You stared at each other in silence for a few more moments before Cross gave a disgusted scoff.

*I want my soul back

You tilt your head as he exits the room, Error took his soul? You decide to ask when he wakes up, the sting of your vertebrae reminds you of the marrow spilling down the freshly made wounds, accompanied by slowly healing cuts from Fate. you twitch as another glitch washes over you at the thought of Fate and their strings.

You bring a hand up to it and cover the wounds before standing, that hurt, but you feel like Cross got what he wanted off his chest. You grabbed your plate and created a portal to the- your anti-void. You reach through and pull out just what you had been looking for, bandages and chocolate, lots of chocolate. The chocolate was sticking out of your pockets, but you just made a saying, you can never have too much chocolate. You quickly eat your tacos, practically shoving both into your mouth as you rummage through the anti-void, thinking of things to bring over. 

Then you remember what Cross told you, his soul, his soul. You try to remember his aura, dangerous but an underlying longing of wanting to be free of-. Of something, you weren’t sure, then you found it and-, half was the soul of a human…

Now you knew what he wanted to escape from. You grabbed the soul of an AU that was very clearly dying off, if the glow of the soul you got was anything to go by. It was a Sans' soul, you think. Now you just needed to give the soul back and ask him if he wanted you to fix his little ghost problem. You faintly remember the feeling of Fate and wonder if that’s how the human makes him feel.

You walk the halls, using the soul of Cross as a pinging device, when you got closer, the glow would grow stronger. You knock on the door you believe to be his, the glow being the strongest there. You can hear Cross mumble that it’s open and take that as an invitation to enter, knowing that he probably thought it was someone else. He lays flat on his bed, facing the ceiling.

*I-I g-goT yOUR s-S-SoUL

His body shoots into a sitting position as he watches you cradle two souls in your grasp, one glowing too dull to be considered full of magic. He looks surprised, almost as if he’s expecting a trick. He hesitantly gets up and approaches you, you hold his soul out to him, softly cradling it.

*Really? No tricks or attacks?

You shake your head.

*I c-coULd aL-ALsO-

You gesture to the human half of the soul and to the dimmer monster soul. You sense his soul pulse in happiness and sure enough, the glow brightens.

*YES!

You jolt in shock, he inhales.

*I-I mean, please?

You nod, telling him to sit down and brace for pain. He nods and sits on his bed, clutching the edges. You bring the soul closer to yourself and grasp the edges, making Cross gasp, you give a small apology before gripping harder and yanking each side toward yourself, your thumbs at where you want the break to be, directing all the force to that area. It breaks with a snapping sound, akin to breaking a bone and you wince at the pained scream that comes from Cross, you apologize again, louder. 

You bring the other soul closer to Cross’ and break it in half as well, it’s pulsing glow growing weaker. You push them together and bind it with your strings, feeling the strangeness of guiding something still attached to you, feeling the softness of the souls and the power with each glowing pulse. You detach the strings from yourself and tie each end, securing the soul with your magic, weak whimpers of pain coming from Cross the whole time along with a few screams.

You walk over to him as you gently cradle the soul, strings holding the two discarded halves. 

*H-heRE

You gently guide the soul to Cross’ chest and push it in, it enters with small resistance and you smile. Cross looks exhausted but thanks you with a large smile, tears clinging to the edge of his sockets as you smile back. You apologize for anything else you may have done to him and he waves it off as you put a bunch of chocolate on his bed, you have a strong feeling he forgives you as you leave his room. Only to bump into Horror, you two just stare at each other before he takes your hand and begins walking down the hall.

*Boss asked me to find you

Oh… you nod and thank Horror as he drags you along silently. When you get to the familiar door, Horror knocks before pushing you inside, shutting the door behind you. You have the distinct feeling he just left prey with predator, you shiver. You gulp, feeling the static of magic prickling along your bones. Turning slowly only to see no one behind you, you almost feel relieved. Almost, until a tendril finds itself snugly wrapped around your hip bones.

You shriek in shock and a surprised glitch washes over you, painfully. -Huh, what’s going on?- Error’s voice sounds groggy, like he just woke up, which would make sense, you seem to have woken up with him as well. You can’t help but go limp as glitches wash over you, fear at something you can’t see touching you, a grim reminder of Fate comes with each glitch and you let out a drawn out screech of pain at a particularly harsh glitch. 

-Calm down, you panicking is only (GUH!!) making this worse- you struggle to clearly hear Error but you manage to understand, realizing there were arms and tendrils restraining your hands helped you ground yourself to reality. You give a squeeze to the hands holding your own as you calm your breathing, clear blue tears blurring your vision. You feel Nightmare lay his head on your shoulder from behind you.

*I-I’m sORrY-Y-y

You feel his skull give a shake from left to right. He murmurs out an apology for scaring you, knowing how you felt about unexpected touch as you kept giving his hands reassuring squeezes. You manage to get him to let go of you long enough to wipe your face before he scoops you up and lays you on his bed.

*Sleep...

It didn’t sound like a choice, so you decided to listen. Until…

You remember the chocolate in your pockets.

*Hey-hey-hEy, Nightmare?

He hums and you can feel his chest rumble from behind you as you reach into your left pocket.

*WanT-AnT sOME-OmE CHoCOlaTe?

You can feel him perk up at the question,-like a dog- you find yourself laughing at Error’s quip.

*What’s so funny, Error?

You can barely stop your laughing long enough to tell him that one of the voices compared him to a dog for perking up at chocolate. He gives you a slight grumpy pout as he looks at you from over your shoulder-so cute...- you blank for a moment as you look at Nightmare, a lemony blush painting your face as you tell him to have a good rest before turning to your own side. 

*But- the chocolate?

You don’t answer and eventually hear him sigh, soft snores coming a few moments later. You feel safe and fall asleep relatively easily.

|There...

You watch the souls as they come closer to you.

Or were you approaching them?

You look down to see each foot steadily making its way to the two souls. Their glowing pulses growing brighter with each step closer.

You reach a hand out. Your phalanges brush against the slimy black one, the drooping spots of goop showing the soft royal purple that lay beneath, it emits a bright glow as your hand touches it. You breath out a single word- no, a name.

*Nightmare...| 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, you just found out one of the soulmates, congrats...
> 
> It was admittedly a little rushed, my birthday is in two weeks!!! YAY!!!
> 
> Also I'm dropping some of the writing style, I'm writing it on my computer but I'm posting it on my phone because it won't allow this site.


	7. Fortune And Unfortunately

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch with the boys is better... You even give Horror and his brother some extra.
> 
> It seems like a great day.....
> 
> That is, until you see(not) Destiny's power hungry brat of a sibling...again...
> 
> This time someone is there to help in the end though, and not a moment too soon...

-Wake the flump up!!!- your sockets snap open at the harsh internal screaming of Error’s voice, a crinkling noise echoes through the room.

*You awake?

You turn your attention to the skeletal body leaning over yours, Nightmare’s head clear center of your glitched vision, he’s chewing something. Lemon yellow quickly overtakes your skull before you force it down, spotting the half-eaten chocolate in his hand. You sit up and Nightmare leans back.

*I-is tHaT-AT m-My CHOcolAtE?

Nightmare’s chewing slows before he puts the rest in his mouth, chewing, then swallowing and tucking the wrapper into his pocket.

*What chocolate?

You can’t help but scoff and look away, no real anger behind it as you remember your dream, the blush coming back full force. Nightmare is your-. You look over to him, he’s reading his book again, and eating cookies, though you have no idea where he got them, they definitely weren’t there a couple of minutes ago. Your soulmate, you can feel your soul pulse with warmth at the thought before you snatch a cookie.

*Hey?!

*K-kArMAs a ThOt

You and Nightmare engage in a glaring contest as you munch on the cookie, putting a piece of chocolate on top. He grumbles at you and you stick your five tongues out at him, each a bright cobalt blue. His face flushes bluish teal again and he looks away from you, you laugh and pull out some more chocolate. You open a portal to the anti-void and shiver, a prickling sensation crawling up your arm as you reach out to it, -Fate seems to be waiting for us- Error deflates and you frown before closing the portal. You didn’t want to risk it. Nightmare’s sludge ripples as you feel the nervousness drain.

*Nightmare-Nightmare???

Your voice is almost steady with the exception of an echoing overlap, Nightmare looks at you and gives a hum.

*Can I uSe-USe oNE Of-F Y-Y-YouR OUtFiTS?

He raises a brow bone.

*Why’d you open the portal then?

You give a frown and shake your head, you look down to the floor. You can hear Nightmare sigh.

*Sure, closets that way

He points to the door on the left of the room’s exit, that’s where you suspected it to be. With a quiet thanks from you, you enter the closet, most all of the clothes are black with the exception of one or two royal purple and sunshine gold outfits, a crown with a crescent shaped moon, hanging on the neck of one of the outfits. You somehow know where it’s from- Dreamtale. You smile, a vision of a small purple magicked skeleton dressed in gold and purple making its picture in your thoughts. 

You grab one of Nightmare’s turtlenecks and some shorts before walking through the room and entering the bathroom. Turning the water as hot as it can go, then turning it down to an acceptable temperature because you can still feel heat, and it hurts. Stepping into the shower, you let the water run over your dark bones, the voices talking insistently. -You know Fate can pull us into the anti-void, right?- Error’s voice speaks over the others, you pause and tense because, no, no, you didn’t know that. You feel worried now, as you think and realize you haven’t heard from you in a while, since you started gaining their recent memories, you communicate your worries about you to Error.

-Maybe you’ve joined together completely- he theorizes, you nod, probably true. Figuring you’ve spent too much time in the shower, you get out and dress yourself in the oversized clothes before opening the bathroom door. Nightmare stands there, poised to knock on the door, he lowers his hand and walks back to his chair. 

*You were in there for a while

*Sorry, I-I-I w-waS tH-TH-tHiNKinG-iNG

The truth, after all, Dream and Nightmare are built in lie detectors. -Pfft, really? Nightmare almost never calls anyone out when they lie to him- Error snorts, you find this small tidbit of information absolutely hilarious. You hear Nightmare huff in annoyance, probably at your positivity.

*Nightmare?

He hums, not looking up from his book and you know he’s paying attention to you when he doesn’t turn the page after thirty seconds.

*Are-are yoU-OU HUnGry-gry? 

He sets his book down and mumbles something under his breath before nodding, his face a natural RBF. You hum, looking at a clock above Nightmare, huh, didn’t notice that before. It’s 12:08 PM, around lunch time then, you mumble out potential meals under your breath before settling on some pastries and fruit, smiling at the thought of all the things you could make.

*H-How ab-aboUT-oUt some PaST-PAStRiES and-anD frUiT?

Nightmare hums before giving a short nod, returning his eyes to his book. 

*Sure

He marks the page before setting the book down and standing up. You bounce out the door, filled with energy at the thought of delicious fruit and sweets. You assume Nightmare is following, his tendrials flicking into the edge of your vision as you walk. Entering the kitchen, you and Nightmare are witness to Horror dragging a large buck through the back door and into the kitchen. 

Sweat beads down his skull as he grunts, struggling to pull the fat thing through the door without breaking its legs. Breaking bones wasn’t forbidden or anything, it just made every skeleton reasonably uncomfortable, in both sound and the misshapen look as the skin and muscle didn’t hold it in place as well as it could. You decide to help him, Error grumbling in the back of your mind.

*Do y-yoU nEeD-ED hELP?

He nods, not looking up as he tries to turn the deer. You, with some internal instruction from Error manage to teleport outside, behind the buck, where you could be most helpful. You grab the legs and hold them up as Horror reinforced his strength to drag it, being able to force the buck through this time. 

*Thanks

He proceeds to call out for Dust and has him teleport them to the basement, you wonder why he didn’t do it himself. 

-He can’t, Undyne’s spear did more damage than just his memories and emotional control. Adding that to the fact that he was basically starved of magical food, more so than other monsters, due to the fact that he refused to eat humans like the rest. I’d say, it’s because his body can no longer generate enough magic to support such energy consuming things and does the same thing it’s been focused on for the past 7-12 years while he lived in his AU, conserving magic and supporting his life functions, kind of like if you eat a lot less for a long time and you aren’t able to eat a lot like you used to. Your body just, sorta, gets used to the way things have been going- Error theorizes and you can’t help but agree, maybe Error is still that nerdy comedian...

There is a small amount of blood trailing from the doorway to the spot that you and Horror had set the deer, sweat becomes visible. -Blood has always made me feel sick for some reason-, you too, ever since your father-, well you know the rest. You grab a mop, after asking Nightmare, and some bleach before cleaning up the mess and closing the door. You feel better at the smell of cleanliness and the fact that there is no longer any blood. 

You wash your hands thoroughly in the sink before pulling out some fruit and other ingredients as Nightmare sat in the same seat as yesterday, watching you cook through the open doorway. You hummed as you pour flour into a large bowl, cracking eggs with one hand during the process. As you pour the milk, you add mashed and diced fruit into the unmixed batter before blending it, coming to a stop when the fruit was smoothed into the mix. You decide to make it a classic triangle shape, trying to make it as smooth as you could while making sure both sides, as well as the inside, were golden brown for each one.

You make around twenty of them, wanting there to be extras. You let them cool on top of the stove as you work on some cream and fruit filling, adding a bit of chocolate for the side, if they wanted to add it to their pastry. You cut them down the middle, hollowing out the inside, filling each with fruit and the cream filling, as well as a heavy amount of magic. Then you scout the cabinets, finding tea and making some before setting everything on the table. You couldn’t help but plant your hands on your hip bones and puff your chest out in pride at your work. 

When you look over at Nightmare, he is already staring down his treat in front of him, a gleam in his eyelight. You clear your non-existent throat to grab his attention.

*C-could yOu-?

You stop, feeling the same pulse as yesterday before hearing people come down the steps. They all seem to sit in the exact same spots, you guess it’s something to do with their roles that are assigned by Nightmare, as he is their leader after all. You legitimately think you spot Cross’ eyelights morph into stars of excitement at the sight of chocolate. You almost can’t contain your laughter as you sit down beside Nightmare, shaking in amusement because of just how adorable that is. Nightmare gives the signal to eat and everyone digs in, giving the occasional compliment. Horror seems to save one and you assume he’s gonna give it to his brother, you make a note to make a special batch for him. You know you still have some filling and mix left.

*H-here, I want-waNT yoU TO-o-

*Share with- brother?

You nod, processing his quiet and broken language, Horror gives you a smile. His injury seems to affect his speech, that’s sad. -Don’t be a sap, Glitch. He communicates just fine- Error chides, but you know that. It still upsets you at the thought of Undyne’s behavior during the situation, she could’ve handled it better. You frown once Horror leaves before sighing and turning to Nightmare, he had insisted on supervising the entire interaction, you have no idea why though. -Horror’s condition makes him both very unpredictable and volatile, he could have lashed out and hurt you if his LV was affecting him too much. The situation is similar for most of the group here- Error explains to you.

You accept the explanation and follow Nightmare to his office, he seems to be thinking hard as his tendrils flick behind him. His office looks different from his bedchamber, the royal purple was nowhere to be seen, it was black with grey, a wooden desk and two chairs with papers and documents on top providing contrast to the otherwise dark room. Nightmare sat in the chair and looked at you, his stare full of thought as he gestured for you to sit across from him.

His tendrils wiggle around behind him as you sit, making visual contact with him. He ruffles through his papers, seemingly looking for something in particular until he pulls out an old paper. Its edges were wrinkled, curled in, and the paper was slightly yellowed, the writing seemed to be untouched and protected though. His eyelights seem to skim through the writing before he hands it over to you.

*Sign this

It didn’t seem like he was asking and it makes you raise your brow bone. His gaze doesn’t waver so you begin reading, not wanting to go into something when you didn’t know the full extent of the information. You begin to read the title of the contract.

[ErrorTale]

Your mind goes blank, Errortale??? -what’s Errortale?-. You voice your and Error’s thoughts, much to Nightmare’s surprise. 

*Your AU…

*Did Ink not tell you about this?

You shake your head, your memories weren’t helping and the voices were completely silent, none of the creators put him up to this. Nightmare’s tendrils flicked with more force as he sneered, knocking over a vase behind him, it shattered on impact with the floor. You could sense his anger, it was stronger than normal.

*Stupid gaurdian, he hasn’t changed since we signed the peace treaty

Nightmare’s tendrils wriggle behind him, curling into loops and flexing as if around something. -He wants to strangle Ink, he always does that when he wants to strangle someone-, you can hear Nightmare’s bony knuckle clack against one another with force as he folds them together. 

*N-Now, Nightmare, DO-dON’t M-maKe-AKe any rAS-ASH deCiSIOnS-s-S-S

Nightmare pauses his anger filled movements and just stares at you, unamused.

*Error, my dearest friend…

*Y-Yes?

Sweat beads on your skull as Nightmare stares at you intensely, leaning a bit your way. 

*When have you ever known me to make any rash decisions?

You think for a moment, -well, there was that one time…-, you can hear the amused smirk in your head. -Nightmare, once, tried to go against the Star Sanses alone. And I mean all alone for no reason other than boredom and hate-. Your sockets sparkle with amusement as you voice this, a memory not yet yours playing inside your skull. Nightmare seems to pout at you and you can’t hold back a giggle, muffled by your hand as he slouches further. Nightmare turns away from you, rolling his eyes as you grin at him, sockets lidded in amusement that Nightmare can obviously feel. If the rippling of his sludge was any give away.

Nightmare opens a portal to his room and orders that you go through as he opens another, a faint beautiful castle you recognize as the Star Sanses castle, he must be going to talk to Ink. 

*C-Can I-I COm-ComE?

He shakes his skull and points a tendril at the portal to his room before stepping into the castle portal, it closes after he enters and you’ve lost your chance to go along. You, instead, shrug and head into the portal created for you, not like you had anything better to do, you were starting to feel a bit sluggish any way. You totally do not pout as you lay on Nightmare’s bed, letting yourself soak in boredom, eventually lulling you to sleep.

\---------------------------------------------

Your sockets open to endless white, it surrounds you. But your eyes refuse to register anything as your magic prickles in fear, the painful static crawling along your arms once again, like a thousand needles, and your chest seems tight around your cracked soul. You stop breathing as you shake, eyes having closed once again, the sensations having become stronger now that your vision is gone, leaving your focus on every other sense.

The overlapping and disembodied voices ring clear through the anti-void. “Hello again, little puppet”, you can’t suppress a shiver that rolls down your spine but you manage to swallow the whimper that nearly left your teeth. You’re shaking but you can’t stop, some primal instinct in your body wants you to be ready to run even though you can't. You can feel the black strings slither over and around your body, snapping solid and pulling you up into the air.

“LOOK AT ME” they hiss making you flinch, you open your eyes but the entity cannot be seen by your eyelights. “Better, much better~” Fate purrs out, the hand ghosts over your skull again and tears well up in your eyes, fear being overwhelming, error signs popping up on your body, an overwhelming stinging pain being left in the trail of touch. You feel like you might die, the errors becoming more painful as they block your vision. You hear a strangled off noise before realizing that it came from you. “Awww” Fate’s voices ring out, echoing through the anti-void, “Does it hurt~...”, it sounds rhetorical, they obviously don’t expect you to answer and you honestly don’t either. 

The strangled plea for them to stop seems to surprise them, the invisible hand stopping in its caresses. A chuckle rang out into the anti-void, deep and threatening, “Aww, looks like the glitch has gained confidence”. The stings tighten and the pain becomes unbearable before you crash, letting out a long dial tone noise as your vision goes blank with red error signs. All you can feel is Fate’s strings and the pain that came along with them, new stringed tears trailing down your face. 

You can still hear them laughing as snaps ring out, pain spiking during each snap, more stringy tears joining the ones that trailed down your cheeks. Lose feeling in your arms and your left leg, a dripping noise coming slightly after the snaps.

You want to cry, you want to scream and yell and fight…

But you can’t move, can’t see, and can’t make any noise other than that damning dial tone. You hate it, you hate this.

You can feel Fate’s hands trail to your cheeks, ghosting over the tear marks and falling to the edge of your face. The dial tone seems to grow louder as they grip the edge of your tears and pull, the pain becoming almost numbing. It burns as they peel, pull, and stretch the strings, their laughs ringing out as your body convulses on its own, trying to stop the burning sensation.

You can’t bring yourself to move on your own, your body doing things on its own as you lay dormant in your crashed state. You can feel one of the strings disconnect from you, a swish coming from where it was previously, accompanied by a strong pinching sensation. If you were able to, you’d scream yourself raw with the amount of pain you were being put through. You're dropped to the ground, the black strings releasing you, as a splat noise comes from nearby in the anti-void. You, still crashed and unable to move, cannot see whom it is but rightfully assume Ink. 

You hear him gasp aloud before feeling yourself being picked up and moved, the movement doing nothing to soothe your pain and instead making it worse. You're placed on something soft, your…. Beanbag?, the error signs that block your vision are consistent, not going away for the time being. The hands leave you and you hear Ink shuffle about before an excited “Aha!” rings out, you can feel something being moved against one of your dismembered arms. It’s twisted around until it perfectly lines up, then you finally realize what it is, your arm. You can feel Ink’s brush being rubbed around the separation crack before he holds the broken pieces together and blows on the attachment line.

The cooling feeling is soothing as you lay still, unable to move. You wonder if this will be a normal thing from now on...

No wonder Error didn’t like being touched, you don’t think you like it as much as you used to either...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter of Deadtale and L.O.V.E.tale coming soon.
> 
> Especially for Deadtale...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!♡(Ӧ-Ӧ)


	8. A Change In Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...
> 
> Well, that Fate was just terrible...
> 
> Let's see what happens next, my friends

You’re pretty sure you blacked out fully at some point, though you’re not sure when. The memories after you crashed being a bit blurry as you come to. You’re laying down on, with a wiggle to figure out what, your beanbag. You shift a bit, it being instinctual to sit up, but wince at your sore and tender limbs, needle thin cuts all over you from the strings, you shiver at the thought as you lay back. You can’t see the break line on either arm or on your leg, you squint as you try to remember what happened after the crash.

Your memories clear a bit and you can remember, what sounded like, Ink healing you with his, well, ink. You snort at the weird thought, groaning when your ribs give a throb of protest at the action. You hear a shuffle, looking to your right to see Ink, putting his sketchbook down. Was-was he drawing you sleeping?, you look down at the not at all empty page…

Yes, yes he was. 

Ink seems to have just noticed you coming to, he sticks a hand to your cheek gently, you can’t help but instinctively jerk away, a whimper slipping through your teeth in fear and pain at the sudden, sharp movement as a zap stings from the spot he touched, bones still sensitive from the glitching. You open your mouth to say something but your throat is dry, funny, considering you don’t even have one. You cough as Ink turns a bit before grabbing something, when he turns back you see what the item is. Chocolate milk. He opens it and helps you drink it, having to touch you, making you glitch a bit, fizzling as your throat was secured by his hand. 

The milk went down smoothly, the taste lingering in your mouth as you couldn’t be bothered to summon a tongue. Your head flops back down when Ink stops supporting your skull. He murmurs out a quick sorry, to which you give a dismissive noise in turn. You decide to voice a repeating question. Why?

*W-why are-aRE yoU-OU hEre, Ink?

Your voice is rougher than usual and your throat is sore. You can’t help the bit of Error that seeps through in your glare, Ink looks a bit sheepish. -Probably ‘cause he knows I hate people being in my personal spaces, like MY anti-void-, Error emphasizes the ‘my’, territorial much?

You keep looking at Ink, waiting for his eventual answer. He seems to be thinking before letting out a huff.

*I honestly can’t remember. Anyway, what happened?! Did someone attack you?! You were on the verge of death! It was pretty disgusting but also cool, someone besides me or the guardians able to rival and even seriously injure you!!!

You can’t help but scoff.

*Screw-screw o-OFf, yOU St-sT-StaIN!

You turn away from him. Feeling bitter, Fate was quite a jerk, huh? But was it only to you?, no, probably not based on some of the other’s backstories. Fate didn’t exactly seem to favor or even consider their happiness in general. Your right eye was still glitching, but it always seemed to be glitching more than your left, or any other part of your body. It may correlate to the theory of Geno becoming Error after his code corruption and additional Error condition gained in the anti-void. It’d honestly explain a lot about Err-your memories.

\----------

Nightmare’s POV

\----------

The stupid Ink blot wasn’t even in the same AU, and when Nightmare asked Dream and Blue, neither knew of his whereabouts. Probably actually doing his job and patrolling the AUs to keep corruption to a minimum.

Nightmare can’t help but sneer as he seemingly melts into the ground, rising up into his bedroom. He twitches, his magically dense room having been disturbed by something he knew all too well, something that definitely wasn’t Error. In fact, when he sensed pulses of negativity from an anti-void, he’d assumed it was a new Geno that Error would eventually take care of. But now he was doubtful that it wasn’t Error that those feelings had come from.

His tendrils curled in disgust at the thought of the cruel and unfair entity known only as Fate. In fact, when he sent out pulses of his magic, he failed to feel Error’s presence in his AU at all. Nightmare couldn’t help the growl that left his throat, knowing just how Fate hated Error and himself. With an intense need to strangle something, he opened a portal to Error’s anti-void.

\----------

Back to You

\----------

Your non-existent stomach gives a loud growl, making you flush yellow. Ink’s eyelights snap to your form, laying on your beanbag, halting his blabber. You hunch your shoulders up, trying to cover yourself despite the sharp sting prompted by the movement. You power through the pain and direct your strings, using your arm to guide them, making them pick up some food from your coffee table. You aren’t really sure what you grabbed until it lands in your lap.

A hotdog along with some condiments. You drench it with the ketchup, adding a small amount of mustard before taking a bite. Yum. When you’re done, you look skeptically at the bottled condiment that you didn’t set back on the table, the ketchup. You turn your skull slightly, seeing that Ink has gone back to drawing your sleeping face, he glances back at your face momentarily as if he’s forgotten something, a small detail, before turning back. You grab the bottle and gulp the remaining liquid down quickly.

You feel the weight of Ink’s stare as you lower the bottle and you can’t help but flush yellow again, feeling like a kid caught with its hand in the cookie jar. You lick some of the condiment left that had fallen onto your mandible as you turn your face away from Ink’s gaze. 

*Wh-what?!

Your skull snaps to Ink, he flinches back at the unexpected movement before bursting into laughter, snorts and all. You flush harder in response.

*Sh-shut uP, I-I-Ink st-stAIn!!

You hear and feel the breaching of your anti-void, a dripping sound, akin to water. Your thoughts instinctively trail to Nightmare. You look over to where a puddle of black goop is forming from nowhere, low and behold, up rises Nightmare from said goop. His eyelights instantly lock onto yours before they trail over to Ink, who continues his drawing of your sleeping face after not dying of laughter. You would have called the skeleton drawing cute if it wasn’t you. Nightmare looks you over, seeing the damage and sneering. He makes his way over to you quickly and kneels down beside you, Ink pays him no attention as he continues with his drawing.

Nightmare scoffs as he looks over your injuries, they would’ve been fatal if you were just another Sans. But you weren’t and would survive, of course that didn’t stop Nightmare from filling you up with healing magic, making both of you sleepy. Comfort coming through your sleepily induced haze from Nightmare as you drag him up beside you despite the limited space on the beanbag and the pain that came with the exertion of strength 

You instantly seek his warmth and cuddle him, flustering him but he doesn’t make a move to leave, glaring at Ink as the white skeleton gave a knowing look and just sat there until you both fell asleep, tangled in each other’s limbs. But the scratch of pencil to paper gives you a feeling that Ink found a new scene to draw. 

|You’re in that place again...

Something is different, you notice instantly. The warm presence next to you jolting a bit in what may be shock.

You look over, making visual contact with a singular teal blue eyelight, socket wide and their eyelight the size of a pinprick. You breathe a simple word through your genuine smile.

*Nightmare...

He looks momentarily conflicted with himself before smiling sheepishly, the goop around the socket you’ve never seen, melting away, revealing a purple eyelight that stares at you with so much emotion. You feel overwhelmed but in the best possible way. Nightmare drags you closer to him and pushes your face into his chest, you briefly think of it as a very rude thing to do before stopping yourself as you hear a slight but fast thump. It’s then that you realize that your own soul is, too, pounding against your sternum. The pale black glow of the other soul brings you out of the moment, you, however, don’t believe the moment to be ruined.

Nightmare joins you in gazing at the black soul that dances so elegantly around you both, edging closer then backing away, as if cautioned but seemingly yearning to be closer with their destined lovers. You and nightmare decide simultaneously in that moment to find the third part of yourselves so that you might be whole again.

At some point in the dream, as you gaze at the other soul, you notice the absence of Nightmare...|

When you wake, you find yourself at Nightmare’s castle again. More specifically, the living room, on the couch. Horror is sitting at the other end of the couch, sharpening his axe’s blade, Dust being the one to supervise and help him while sitting in front of him. Dust is holding one of Horror’s hands, the one holding the sharpener, guiding it back and forth on the blade gently but firmly, truly an interesting and mesmerizing process to watch. Horror is smiling, and occasionally you see Dust give Horror head pats and rub around his aching wound. Horror will stop what he’s doing and nuzzle Dust’s hand, purring loudly.

It’s heartwarming to watch and you can’t help but admire the two’s relationship. Cross and Killer are nowhere to be seen at the moment but your magical strings that are infused and connected with Crosses soul tell you that he is very happy at the moment and that’s all you need to know. Nightmare soon enters the living room and sends out that now familiar pulse of magic, and the equally familiar sound of footfalls thumping down the steps and around the castle manages to sooth you even further as you prepare to hoist yourself up. Nightmare surprises you, however, by cradling you gently in his tenderly embracing tendrils, carrying you to the dining room and placing you down in the exact seat as always.

You fluster, everyone is staring at you and Nightmare. You turn your head away, not looking at them as you flush as yellow as a lemon. Cross has seemingly gotten over his fear of you and moved to a new spot beside Killer, you of course notice the way Killer’s hand slips under the table to tease Cross but you choose to remain silent, snickering as Cross immediately stiffens and hunches his shoulders. You look at what was made and saliva instantly fills your mouth, it seems that Horror has cooked this time around, with Nightmare’s help. The deer meat is shaped like a buck and you find the skill and time put into it impressive.

Nightmare looks around the table before giving everyone the order to dig in. It tastes even better than it looks, and you can sense how magic heavy it is, not Horror’s though. You knew Horror couldn’t infuse magic with his meals, he didn’t have enough of his own, therefore it’s Nightmare’s magic. When you look at Nightmare, he is watching the antics of his team, amused, they can’t seem to keep their hands to themselves. Horror and Dust are at least decent at the table, the farthest being nuzzles to the skull of the other.

But Killer can’t keep his hands off of Cross, slipping his hands under the table to touch Cross, the only indication of where, being the trembles Cross gives along with his blush that is so bright it resembles a light. Nightmare dismisses the boys afterwards, Killer teleporting with a trembling, blushing Cross in his grip. Dust and Horror cuddle on the couch, Dust using his magic to pick a movie.

You go to get up but Nightmare is on you in an instant, scooping you up and melting into the floor. You two are instantly in his room where he sets you on the bed and says the four words that could make or break your relationship.

*We need to talk...

You breathe in deeply before nodding in agreement.

*W-we dO

You’re both silent, gazing at one another. 

*So...

*You’re my Soulmate

*Y-YeAH, a-a-appaRENtly. Wh-whAt n-n-NOw-ow?

An error sign pops up in your vision but you wave it away despite the anxiety clawing at your soul, returning your attention to Nightmare. Nightmare’s sludge ripples, consuming the meal presented despite the monster the emotions are coming from. Nightmare paces back and forth, fiddling with his phalanges-like Pap- Error reminds and your hands tremble involuntarily. Nightmare seems to have made up his mind as he stops his pacing suddenly, turning to face you with a strong resolve. 

*Are you- 

He stops, seeming to struggle with his choice of words.

*Do you want to be my mate?

Despite the ridiculousness of the question in your mind, he is serious and seems to need reassurance that you actually want the relationship he is offering. You blush, knowing your answer. You nod, stuttering out very awkwardly that you’d like to be with him very much, all the while staring at your lap and avoiding visual contact. A brief doubt crosses your mind as the voices shout profanities and curses, the long bit of silence causing your anxiety to spike and you start glitching more. 

You're reluctant to look up but when you do, you see Nightmare, frozen and flushed cyan-teal with a small bit of purple as you look closer. 

*N-Nightmare?

You give him a small nudge, waking him up from his spaced out moment. The atmosphere is awkward as he sits beside you, neither of you looking at each other. You decide to make the first move, the worst that could happen is that you'd be rejected by one of your soulmates…..

Yeah, that doesn’t sound very optimistic but it’s all your mind can think of at the moment and it strangely reassures you, if only a little. 

*Nightmare

His eyelight focuses on you as you turn to him with anxious determination, though it’s extremely pathetic in your eyes. You resemble a light bulb at the moment and you know it, the yellow magic of your flushed skull illuminating the otherwise dark room.

*W-will YoU-OU bE-EEEEeEE mY bOY-BOyF-FrIEnD?

And Nightmare is suddenly a lightbulb, shaking and wide eyed. He nods, you knew he wouldn’t accep-, wait, he nodded. You can’t help your happiness, causing Nightmare to give a small startled hiss as you hug him, though he returns it just as enthusiastically. Your fractured soul pulses with warmth. ~~_You don’t think this could get any better..._~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like the change in perspective?
> 
> Did you geuss one of your soulmates right?
> 
> Are you happy?
> 
> ....are you ready for what's next?....
> 
> Yes? Are you sure? 
> 
> Very well...


	9. Not Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof, not Ink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I have writers block for this story, but don't worry!!!!
> 
> I WILL PERSEVERE!!!!

Time seems to pass like blinking, first one month, then two, then three, and here three months later, not much has changed...

Well, actually-

*Error, baby, are you gonna go to sleep?

You look over at Nightmare, your eye twitching a bit as you smile sweetly at the goop king, the smile almost seems too sweet to be true. And you’d be right to claim that it wasn’t. 

*Night, D-D-dear~

*It’s th-He mIDDle of ThE-E-e DAy

Nightmare flips over and looks at his bedside clock that says, two PM. His movement pauses before he slumps, tired, and your smile softens.

*Do-DOn’T wor-worrY, NIGhTy, go-o to SLEEEEp. YO-YOU haD-HaD a-A late night

You give his shoulder blade a rub, leaning down to kiss the back of his skull before standing up from the bed. Though he and Dream didn’t need sleep, it was good for them, especially when stressed. You’re not necessarily caught off guard when NIghtmare’s tentacles pull you back towards him but you still give a relatively loud yelp in the quiet room. His arms slip around your waist and you feel his skull nuzzle into the back of your soft shirt, you pat his docile tentacle that lies across your knees as you allow him to cuddle you from behind. The quiet and comfortable atmosphere is ruined by a loud crash from downstairs.

*I’ve-ve-vE gotTA go-o CHECk ON-ON that

You say, getting up, Nightmare letting you go this time. You give him a kiss on the cheek and give a whisper of I love you before teleporting down the stairs, a knife narrowly missing your skull as the portal closes. Everything in the living room pauses, dead silent. You take this moment to access the damage in the room, the torn up couch, the bones, knives, and axe embedded in the walls, and the broken television. You also look over the four injured skeletons that are sweating, still in their spots but their eyelights following your every movement.

Horror is the least injured, barely a scratch which is good, Dust would freak out otherwise. Cross is a bit bruised but is currently pinned to a wall by Killer, a knife against his throat but his face flushed purple. Dust and Killer are the most scrapped up, which was a bit expected, they were always trying to rival each other and bringing their mates into the mix. They both wanted to show their mates how good they were at fighting but their mates also had the same instincts and insisted on fighting, whether it be against their own mate or another. Upon further inquiry, it is found that Cross threw Killer into the tv. You make them all clean it up, glaring at them the entire time, making them all quiver in fear. 

*CrOSS, if you breAk-BREAk AN-ANOther TV, I-I-i WiLl droWN you in milk. I have-have personalized tORTURE METh-MEthods fOR all Of-of YoU

You watch them all work faster after your promise, shivering and shaking as your cold gaze watched them. You shake your head and head into the kitchen, intending to make something for breakfast since only you, Horror, and Nightmare could even relatively cook, and Horror couldn’t fill the food with magic or intent. You have a strange urge to eat eggs and bacon, so you make BLTs, yum! (or not, i won’t judge). You of course being the absolute wonderful being you are, make enough for everyone, filling it up with magic and intent for everyone. 

Honestly, you don’t think that you’ve ever felt more like a part of a family than now. Of course, you became close with Blue and you guess you could be considered close with Ink, upon his insistence to spend time with you. But Blue was a genuine friend, you could tell him secrets, learn from each other, and have meaningful conversations that weren’t riddled with puns, something that Ink was increasingly fond of. Granted you could probably do all that with Horror and Nightmare, but Nightmare was your soulmate and Horror didn’t talk much so it was good that you had Blue as your friend, of course you’d never tell anyone but perhaps Nightmare and your other soulmate. 

Which you and Nightmare had been talking about, you were both thinking about discussing it with Ink, the only person you and Nightmare believe to be the missing third of you and if not, you could ask him if he had any ideas on who it could be or how you might possibly find him. The only thing that was stopping you both, was finding time, you both wanted to go together but between the paperwork, the group, and any newbies which were still getting settled into their rooms, you couldn’t find much. You were thinking about leaving one of the boys in charge, but you would have to pick a responsible, trustworthy, and respected one which would be really hard, they were all goofballs. 

Dust and Killer were the prime candidates at the moment but Dust could have a breakdown at any time, only Horror and Nightmare would be able to calm him and Killer was very mischievous. None of them would even give a second thought before defying Cross, and Horror wouldn’t be able to handle the stress well enough without hurting himself in some way, both you and Nightmare didn’t want anyone to get injured. So far, Killer was the most obvious choice but a little bribe and/or threat wouldn’t hurt anyone. With that in mind you finished breakfast/lunch, letting Killer know to meet you in Nightmare’s study when he was done as you brought Nightmare and you a plate upstairs, along with a small something for Nightmare. 

You almost mistake Nightmare for being asleep, until he turns over to face you with his usual grump face, you think it’s unbearably cute. You pass him his plate, but he stays laying down, just staring at you.

*We-elL, GEt-Get U-U-Up and eAT

You smack his shoulder lightly which snaps him out of whatever daze he was in. He sits up properly and consumes the food, you pass him a surprise cup of coffee that he downs in one gulp, making you slightly startle. He sighs in content before sitting up and kissing your cheek, making you flush lemon yellow, he chuckles but you notice the slight tint of cyan on his own face. You eat your food quickly, turned away from Nightmare to save your soul from bursting, your face lighting the room as you try to muster the strength to calm down. You got more of the memories from Error, he no longer made his presence known but you also seemed to forget a significant amount of your past life, it just faded away, you barely noticed and dismissed it when you did.

But you supposed it didn’t matter, you’ve gotten worse with touching strangers that you were unfamiliar with but fine when it came to close friends and Nightmare. Not that Nightmare or yourself would let them touch you, but there were occasions when you were unprepared, it turned into a twenty-four hour crash, with you being unresponsive. The person that caused said crash, needless to say, is no longer alive courtesy of all the people that know you now, you kind of feel bad for the guy. But you put that off to the side as you place the now empty plate on your bedside table, turning to face Nightmare now that you were more composed.

*W-we’rE g-g-GoINg tO-O see INk To-to-tODay, right?

Nightmare huffs angrily before nodding and also sets his plate on his bedside table, standing and offering a hand out to you. You snort but take his hand nonetheless, commenting about how gentlemanly he is being making him, too, give a small snort. He opens the portal to the Stars’ castle and you step through, taking the chance to gaze at the lushious eternal garden around you, it never fails to amaze you at how etherial of a picture the castle and garden painted together. You hear the portal close but don’t look back, slowly walking to the castle as you look at the beauty that surrounds you. You can hear Nightmare chuckle softly but pay it no mind.

\----------

*I-inK, tH-aNK you f-fOr taKInG tIMe to TALK wi-wiTH us

Ink is painting at the moment, something he says is a substitute for creating AUs, more specifically, he is painting Dream and Blue as they cuddle in the back garden. It’s too cute and you find your eye lights drawn to the loving scene, you were happy for your best friend, finding his soulmate in someone that’s close to him is the best thing that you could wish to happen to him, and secondly, who better than Dream, someone that respects Blue and treats him like the grown adult that he is. You’re very happy for the both of them, and you often hang around them.

*Of course, it’s no problem, Error! 

He finishes the boots on Blue before turning his attention to the two of you.

*What’d you want to talk about?

You smile at how his eye lights turn orange and green, changing into question marks. 

*We should actually take this conversation to a more private setting

Ink’s eye lights remain question marks but he leads you both to the tea room nonetheless. You both sit across from Ink as he stares at you curiously but intensely. You feel sweat bead on your skull as you gulp dryly.

*S-So, InK

His attention is turned to you and you suddenly feel shyer, wanting the void to swallow you. You look at Nightmare, who is also paying attention to you, you give him pleading eyes. He caves after about a minute and clears his throat, switching Ink’s attention to him. Nightmare’s cheeks flush as he mumbles out what you came here to ask, you barely being able to hear it.

*Sorry, I didn’t quite understand

*I said, “Are you our other soulmate?”

Ink blinks and Nightmare grumbles under his breath, blushing furiously.

*No...

You turn to Ink, tilting your head.

*A-Are yOU-yOU sURe?

*mhm, I had a soulmate, he’s dead

This time you and Nightmare blink, Ink is still as blunt as ever, your soul pulses in sympathy. You don’t have to be an empath to know that Nightmare feels the same way at the moment, both of your souls want to comfort Ink, the loss of a soulmate being the second hardest thing to deal with in the multiverse, the first being the loss of a child. 

*Apologies, we had no idea

You nod in agreement with Nightmare’s statement, though you would’ve worded it differently.

*Nah, I’m fine, I have Sketch

That was Ink’s son, you had believed him to have been given life through Ink’s painting magic but now you were thinking it was from his dead soulmate. His eye lights tended to change shape like Ink’s but one was white and the other was yellow surrounded by cyan blue, he almost always wore this intricate kitsune mask, on his left cheek he had a small cyan ink blot, and had a blue jacket that had buttercups decorating the bottom of it. You had always wondered where Ink thought of his design. 

*But…, do you perhaps know any others that may be our third party

Ink thinks hard for a moment.

*Any clues? I need clues

*Black soul, outlined by a bright electric blue

Electric blue? You never noticed an electric blue outline, though maybe you were too busy basking in the feel of your soulmates’ safe presence. You furrow your brow bones, thinking of each of your dreams with the beautiful soul, now that you’re paying attention to detail, you notice the bright blue that the soul shines with in each memory. Ink laughs, pulling your gaze.

*Dunno why you thought it’d me, if I had a soul, it’d be rainbow

Well, he had a point but you were mainly thinking about the black color. Maybe a person in one of the balances, Death or one of the Chara equivalents? You shake your head, pushing the idea back a bit, as to not be rude and give your attention to Ink as he listed off all the potentials off the top of his skull...and scarf. 

**Author's Note:**

> That's is it, the end of that chapter, the next one will be longer. 2,111 words


End file.
